


Voltron Legendary Defender: Keith II

by hayleekogane



Series: Voltron Legendary Defender: Keith [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2020-11-08 01:47:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 35,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20827346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hayleekogane/pseuds/hayleekogane
Summary: Part II





	1. Keith 1.2.1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song: Guillotine by Jon Bellion

Keith 1.2.1

It's been two days since that first battle that we fought against Sendak, one of Zarkon’s generals. Two days since I had that moment with Lance, I have no idea how close we would have gotten if Allura and Coran hadn’t stormed on to the bridge. Lance and I haven’t gotten a chance to talk about it yet. I don’t even know if he wants to talk about it. Yesterday we finally picked our rooms, we are all near each other in the same corridor. I look around my space, a good eight by ten room, but sparse, empty. The only splash of color is my red jacket hanging on the wall opposite my bed. 

I haven’t been able to sleep lately, unable to figure out how time works on this planet, I wake up when everyone is still sound asleep. This morning I woke up and the castle was completely silent, like I was all alone, and had this entire world to myself. As I lie here, in the quiet, I think about Lance a few doors over. Probably resting, not a care in the world. I wish I could be more like him, but I’m always thinking, planning, then overthinking, and over planning. I twirl the small sword that my father gave me before he died, above my head. Lost in thought. We haven’t been doing much since our battle, Pidge, Hunk, and Lance are close, from the Garrison and tend to hang out together, and Shiro hangs out with Allura and Coran, familiarizing himself with the castle, and trying to learn as much about the lions and how they work as much as he can. But I don’t really fit in. But that’s nothing new, I’ve always been a little odd, always on the fray of things. 

Maybe I’ll try and talk to Lance today, we never really finished our conversation back on Earth, and I would really like to figure out where things were heading before we had to fight Sendak. Yeah, today I’ll—

Alarms start blaring from all sides, followed by Allura’s voice on the intercom, “Everybody up! Zarkon's attacking! The castle's about to be destroyed! Go, go, go! We need Voltron now!”

I jump out of bed, grab my knife, my jacket, and run out the door. I’m met by Shiro running just as fast as I am, and we ran to the bridge together. 

“Hurry! We can't survive much longer!” Allura adds on the speaker.

We’re coming as fast as we can. A few moments after I was joined by Shiro I hear footsteps behind us, Pidge and Hunk just emerged in their pajamas and seem to be heading to the bridge as well.

As we are about to enter the bridge, Coran takes over the intercom yelling, “Oh, no! Allura is dead! Aaaah! it's horrible! Her head fell off!”

What the actual fuck?

“ Wait! What? Her severed head is trying to speak to me! What is it, Allura's head? What are your final words?”

Good lord, I slow my pace as well as Shiro, and a sleepy Hunk and Pidge catch up to us, I look at each of them as we wait outside the bridge, “So this is definitely not real right?” I ask.

Together the three of them nod and answer, “definitely.”

Then we all walked onto the bridge to see Coran bent over the microphone, with Allura scolding him, “Coran…” she laments.

“Oh, yes, Princess, I'm listening,” Coran replies in an overly dramatic voice.

“It's over,” Allura sighed, looking up at us.

“Oh, I know! Uaaaagh! If only Voltron had been formed…” Coran says sadly, but then looks up to see us, “—Oh! Time!”

“I guess this isn't an actual attack,” Shiro supplies.

“And it's a good thing it wasn't” Allura glares, “because it took you…” she looks to Coran, “Coran?”

I glance at the doors, Lance still isn’t here. I wonder what’s keeping him…

“Seventy-five degrees!” Coran exclaims, “Oh, sorry. No, this is a meat thermometer,” he corrects.

I look at them in disbelief, they have the gall to be upset with us, and they can’t even keep track of time?

“However long it was, it was too long,” Allura condescends, “You must always be ready to do battle with Zarkon. Look at you! Only Shiro is in uniform. Keith, Pidge, Hunk, where are your Bayards? And where is Lance?” the princess asks, just as the entrance to the bridge opens.  
Lance walks in, with blue lion slippers, his pajamas, and what looks like a cup of tea? His face almost sparkles, I wish I could get the amount of rest that he seems to be getting better. 

We all look up at him, Allura and Coran clearly disappointed, Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro blatantly annoyed, but he just smiles without care and says, “Good morning, everybody. What's going on?”

I have to mask a smile, that's my Lance.

Allura seethes, “Coran and I have been up for hours getting the Castle back in order. We had to run a test on the alarms, and we decided to test you as well. Guess which one failed?”

Hunk responds with a yawn, “Hey! You got to sleep for 10,000 years, man. Monday night, I was on Earth. Now, I've flown through space, fought some evil alien named Zarkon, eaten goo in some weird Castle. That's a lot to process in, uh... I don't know. What day is today?”

Good question.

Coran is the one who answers, “it's the third quintant of the Spicolian movement. Hump day!”

Helpful.

Hunk, similarly pleased with Coran’s answer as I am, finishes “—It's a lot to process.”

Allura glares, and gets right back on her high horse before saying, “You must understand the stakes of our mission.”

I understand the stakes plenty, I don’t need her to tell me. I fold my arms in frustration.

The princess walks over to the center console and pulls up a holographic map of the universe that takes up the entire bridge.

“Over the last 10,000 years,” Allura starts, “the Castle picked up distress beacons from the following locations,” and almost every planet that originally showed up as blue, turns red, “so, we have to assume that Zarkon has conquered almost the entire known universe.”

She shifts the map, until she gets to Earth, “Earth is here. An attack on your planet is inevitable.”

Okay, I get it. It's bad, but enough of the lecturing and silly tests early in the morning, and let's do something. I’m tired of sitting here and doing nothing, while getting scolded like a child.

“Oh no…” Hunk mutters.

“Exactly,” Allura agrees, “our mission is to free all those planets. Coran and I are getting the Castle ready to leave Arus. During that time, you have to learn to form Voltron, so we can begin fighting Zarkon.”

Let’s do it.

“The Princess is right. Let's get to our Lions and start training,” Shiro declares.

I nod and start towards my lion when Pidge interjects, “Wait. But I want to talk to the prisoners we rescued from the Galra ship.”

“Ah, negative, Number Five,” Coran says to Pidge, “I have you ranked by height, okay?” and I can’t help but look around, I wonder where I rank... “the prisoners need to remain in the cryo-replenishers until tomorrow.”

“That's right. Now, get to your Lions,” Allura commands.

Once we are all in our lions, we wait outside the castle, Hunk seems to be taking his sweet time, “... Should someone go in after him?” Lance asks the group.

But before anyone can respond, the yellow lion appears, “Hey, sorry, everybody. Seriously, though, can't they park these things, like, a little closer to the Bridge?” Hunk apologizes.

“All right, guys. Let's just fly in tight formation until we're totally in sync,” Shiro starts.

And we all take off towards the sky, flying in a V, with Shiro in the front, then Lance and I to his left, and Hunk and Pidge to his right.

“Feel the bond with your Lions and your fellow pilots until five become one unit and you form Voltron!” Allura cheers.

As we fly we all yell, “Yeah!”  
But we don’t form Voltron.

Not the first time, not the second time, and not the third time.

“Clearly, this isn't working. Let's set down for a little bit,” Shiro says.

But I have an idea, it's not the best, but it's a start, “Maybe we should be building Voltron from the ground up?” I offer.

“What do you mean?” Shiro asks.

“I mean, let's try literally building Voltron,” I clarify, “like, stacking on top of each other.”

“Like a cheerleader pyramid?” Lance asks tauntingly.

“You got a better idea?” I basically growl, embarrassed.

“It's worth a try,” Shiro agrees.

So we all land, and attempt to stack our lions, one on top of the other. But things quickly fall apart when Hunk tries to go on top, “Hunk, what are you doing?” Shiro questions.

“What do you mean?” Hunk responds.

“You're supposed to be the leg, over there,” Shiro explains.

“What? No. No, no, no. I'm pretty sure that when we did it last time, I was the head. Right?” Hunk continues.

Hunk what the hell, you even—

“You yelled, 'I'm a leg!'” Lance finishes for me.

“Yeah, I was yelling a lot of things” Hunk admits.

“Shiro's head,” I tell Hunk exasperatedly.

“All the time?” Hunk asks still confused.

Oh my god, are you dense, how many other ways can we explain it, and right before I’m about to lose my cool, Shiro says peacefully, “Let's just try it my way for now.”

“Okay, but next time I call head,” Hunk concedes.

Once we all get rearranged, with Hunk and Lance on the bottom, Pidge on top of Hunk, and myself on top of Lance, Shiro starts to land, “Okay. Arms and legs... and I'll form the head. Feel the bonds with your Lions. Now, channel your energy into forming Voltron. Focus... Focus…” 

I close my eyes and focus all my thoughts on Red and on Voltron. 

“Is everyone bonding and focusing?” Shiro interrupts.

Why is this not working? We’ve done it before?

“Why was this so much easier before?” Lance asks, and I wish I had an answer.

“Let's take a break,” Shiro said tiredly.

And as we start to head back towards the castle Allura’s annoying perfect face appears on the screen, “Sorry to interrupt, but I may be able to help. Yesterday, you weren't able to form Voltron until you were in the heat of battle.”

We all mutter in reluctant agreement, which Allura takes in stride, “Perfect. Because I need to run a diagnostic test on all of the Castle's defenses. This should help!” she says with joy, right before aiming all of the castle’s weapons our way.

Shit.

After we failed miserably at Allura’s maniacal tests, we were able to sneak back into the castle. Pidge, Hunk, Lance, and I were waiting in the castle’s common room when Allura walks in, “You did it! You formed Voltron!”

I groan, “No. The shooting stopped and the particle barrier shut down, so we just flew in.”

“What?” Allura asks angrily.

Coran looks at her and sheepishly replies, “Oh, right. Uh, sorry, Princess. I had to turn off the Castle defenses to test the fire suppressors.”

Shiro reenters the room and after one look our way says, “What are you guys doing in here? We're not taking a break.”

Allura nods, “Shiro's right. You should be training.”

“We've been training,” Hunk complains before asking, “when are we going back to Earth?”

“I'm not going back until I find my family,” Pidge adds defiantly.

“Guys, there won't be an Earth if we don't figure out how to fight Zarkon,” Shiro argues.

“How are we going to fight? We can't even figure out how to form Voltron,” Lance points out.

“Well, I'm not surprised. You know, the original Paladins fought hundreds of battles together, side-by-side. They were like a pack of Yalmors linked at the ears,” Coran comments.

“Wow. Yeah, that's definitely not us,” Lance says, and I can’t help but agree. I know Shiro as I know myself, but Lance might hate me, and I only just met Hunk and Pidge, I’m not about to trust them with my life. 

“During the last attack, your survival instincts forced you to work as a team, but that will only get you so far. You'll have to become a real team to have any chance of forming Voltron and then beating Zarkon next time. You should try working out on the Training Deck,” Coran offers.

“There's a Training Deck?” Hunk asks, right as Coran decides to lead the way.

We all stand in a circle back to back in the center of the training deck, when Coran’s voice comes over the speaker, “Okay, listen up, guys. The Paladin code demands that you put your team members' safety above your own,” I peer behind me at Lance, can I trust him to protect my blindside? I want to think so, but I’m not sure.

Coran continues, “A swarm of drones is about to attack. It's up to each of you to do everything you can to protect the other members of your team.”

I focus ahead of me, readying myself for the attack, I need to protect my team, even if they might now protect me.

“Get ready,” Shiro commands.

I brace myself as I see a bunch of circular drones fall out of the ceiling. Pidge is the first one struck out, and the floor opens up and he falls through the ground, and without Pidge, Hunk gets taken out next. Then it's just Lance, Shiro, and I, we back up closing the space. I keep bouncing the shots off my shield, “You keeping up over there, Keith?” Lance asks, facing me.

“Just concentrate on keeping me safe,” I tell him.

Lance scoffs, “Me? I own this drill. You're the one who needs to concentrate.” Says the guy who started taunting me. 

After a few more seconds, I feel a sharp jab at my leg, I feel myself fall through the floor, and I know that Lance messed up.

After the failed attempt of a trust exercise with the drone, Coran has a new idea, he takes Lance down to the main floor, and leads my up to the observation deck, “To form Voltron, you must trust in each other. This ancient Paladin maze will teach you that trust. Your teammates can see the walls, but you cannot. So, listen carefully. If you touch the walls, you'll get a slight shock,” Coran says into the microphone.

“Wait. Who's guiding me through?” Lance demands.

I decide to ignore his question, still a little annoyed that he failed to protect me, “Take two steps forward,” I tell him on the intercom.

“Oh, no. Not Keith. Why does he get to be the man on the mic?” he questions, but if anyone should be complaining right now it should be me.

“Now, just sit tight. You'll get your turn,” Coran says.

So I continue, “As I said, take two steps forward, turn right, and take three steps in that direction.”

I look down at him and watch with a grimace as he ignores my carefully explained directions and gets himself electrocuted. Great, now he’ll distrust me even more.

“You did that on purpose!” Lance shouts.

I try to remain calm, “You're not listening.”

“You said, 'Turn right,'” Lance taunts.

“But, before that, I said, 'Take two steps forward,’” I corrected.

“Two steps—” Lance repeats, before once again walking in the wrong direction and getting shocked again. 

What the hell Lance? Now he’s gonna hate me even more, and any chance we had at being anything is flying out the window.

He points angrily and shouts, “We're switching places right now!”

The next exercise that Coran has us try, gets us back in our lions. As we fly away from the castle, Coran tells us over the radios, “You'll never be able to form Voltron unless each of you has a strong bond with his Lion.”

“No problem. I and Blue are best buds for life, for real,” Lance comments.

“Perfect! Then you won't have any issues with this exercise. Everyone, put your Lions into a nosedive! This is an expert-level drill that you really shouldn't attempt until you've been flying for years, but, uh, we're in a bit of a rush, so here we go,” Coran explains, then says, “Activating training helmets!”

And then everything goes black, and Lance screams, “Coran, what's happening?! I can't see!”

“You must learn to see through your Lions' eyes. The goal is to pull up right before you crash into the ground. Feel what the Lion feels!” Coran tells us.

“Mine feels scared!” Hunk yells as he pulls away from the group.

“You still going, Keith?” Lance asks me.

I smirk to myself, “You know it. You?”

“Going? I'm speeding up!”

I almost laugh with excitement as I sped up too, “Oh, yeah?”

“Must be getting close,” Lance says, but I’m not giving up that easily. I have that rush of adrenaline coursing through my veins, nothing can touch me now, all I feel is the excitement of flying, and the fluttering butterflies in my stomach that show up every time I talk to Lance.

“Must be,” I agree.

“You getting scared?” Lance questions.

“I’m not scared,” I shout with everything I have left.

Until BANG

We both crash into the ground, “Ow…” I moan.

“... I win” Lance says.

And we both start laughing until we can’t, and then we laugh some more.

After a few more failed trust and team-building exercises, Coran takes us back to the dining hall. Where all sit down for dinner, or what I call disgusting food goo.

“Ahoy, young Paladins! I whipped up a big batch of focusing food. After this meal, you'll be forming Voltron six times a movement and twice on the astral conflux!” Coran shouts.

“Smells great, Coran. Thanks,” Shiro said.

And right as we are about to dig in, Coran pulls out a remote, clicks a button, and white handcuffs appear our wrists. Connecting each of us to the people to either side. Pidge sits to my right, and Lance to my left. 

I almost blush, when I realize how close Lance and my hands are, I look down at our connect wrists, so close, but not close enough.

“Hold the phone!” Lance shouts.

Hunk tries to separate from Lance and Shiro but to no avail, and I don’t think I’ve seen Hunk so upset, “Coran, I want you to think about what you're doing.”

“Oh, this one's a classic. You get to feed each other, like a pack of Yalmors!” Coran yells excitedly.

“Ow!” Yells Hunk as Lance pulls too hard.

“Sorry,” Lance says.

But then Hunk pulls Lance so roughly, that I, in turn, get pulled, and my hand lands smack dab in Lance’s food.

“Oh, nice. You defiled my food goo!” Lance screams at me.

“It's your fault!” I’m so done with today, “this is ridiculous!”

Allura groans in frustration, how dare she be upset when we are the ones having to put up with this, “do Earthlings ever stop complaining?” she asks.

“Can't you just give us a break? Everyone's been working really hard today” Shiro attempts.

“Yeah!” I added, “we're not some prisoners for you to toy with, like... like..” I lose my train of thought.

“Like a bunch of toy prisoners!” Shouts Lance.

“Yes! Thank you, Lance!”

But Coran is not pleased, “—You do not yell at the Princess!”

Well then buckle up because there’s a lot more where that came from.

To which Pidge replies, “Oh, the Princess of what? We're the only ones out here and she's no Princess of ours!”

Oh shit, low blow.

Everyone goes completely silent, waiting for Allura’s response, which ends up being Allura using her fork to sling a huge glob of goo at Pidge.

I look at Pidge, who is now covered in that nasty green stuff, and yell, “Go loose Pidge!”

Pidge flings food at Allura, which is followed by Coran successfully flinging goo at all five of us.

“Oh, it's on now,” Hunk adds mischievously before an all-out food fight breaks out.

Everyone is flinging goo left and right, I find myself leaning on Lance, and when our shoulders touch we look at each other, and I know, just as he knows, that all our fights throughout the day, are just blips on the map. We smile at each other back to back, protecting each other's blind spots as we throw food at our enemies Coran and Allura. Each and everyone of us is laughing and giggling, even Shiro, who I haven’t seen smile since before his Kerberos mission. 

Once we are all out of food, Allura commands, “Enough! Do you see what you're doing?!”

We all pause and look at each other.

“You're finally working together as one!” She finishes.

I smile and look at Lance, “Hey, she's right!”

Lance smiles back at me and adds playfully, “I actually don't hate you right now.”

I’m starting to think that he never did.

“You guys thinking what I'm thinking?” Hunk asks.

“Let's go form Voltron!” Shiro answers.

We all scream, “YEAH!” as we all run to our lions, like we were supposed to do this morning, and form Voltron, like the team we were always meant to be.

Later that night, as I’m lying on my bed, just like I was that morning. I think about all the growth we had as a team today. I’m still just as close to Shiro as I was, but I trust Hunk and Pidge, even Allura and Coran are starting to grow on me. Lance, is still a puzzle to me, but I think he has my back, almost as much as I have his, and that's a good feeling to have.

I twirl my short sword again like I do when I’m thinking, when there’s a knock at my door, I rise off my bed as Lance walks in.

I’m surprised when I look up to see his face. “Hey” I offer.

He looks at me and smiles, “Hi.”

I walk over to him and ask, “What’s up?”

He pauses for a moment before saying, “I just wanted to say,” I wait for him to continue, “thanks for everything”

I’m shocked, what did I do today besides yell and cause him to electrocute himself multiple times.

Before I respond he explains, “I’ve just always been so jealous of you. You’ve always been so sure of yourself,” he couldn’t be more wrong, “and I want to be more like you.”

I study him, looking into his warm hazel eyes, that appear bluer in this light, “Keith you inspire me to be a better person, and I just wanted you to know that. I’m sorry that I’m so bad at showing it.”

When he finishes, I’m stunned, and all my awkward self can think to say is, “thanks.”

What the actual FUCK Kogane?

Lance nods, and as he walks out, he looks over his shoulder and says, “sweet dreams mullet.”

And I’m not entirely sure this wasn’t.


	2. Keith 1.2.2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song: Battle Scars by Lupe Fiasco & Guy Sebastian

Keith 1.2.2

Yesterday we formed Voltron, and now we can really train together, like the team that we are destined to be. We’ve spent the whole morning training, connecting with our lions, with each other. I think we might actually be good at this. After a couple of hours, Shiro suggests that we take a break for lunch, and as soon as we head inside, Pidge bolts away. He’s kind of a mystery. I try to figure him out, but there’s something that I’m missing, something none of us knows. 

Without Pidge, Hunk, Shiro, Lance, and I continue into the dining hall, once we’ve entered Shiro addresses the group, “Great job training today, guys. We're really getting the hang of Voltron.”

I agree, and Lance reminisces, “Seriously, how far do you think my Lion kicked that broken alien ship? Must have been like a mile!”

I stop in my tracks and give him a look, while Hunk and Shiro walk past us, “Yeah, that'll come in handy when the Galra challenges Voltron to a soccer match,” I say sarcastically.

“Hey, I did something cool and you can't handle it. I get it,” Lance replies sassily, glancing my way.

“Your kick ruined our balance,” I point out, “we fell.”

“Well that falling part was Hunk's fault,” Lance finishes dismissively, and I shake my head with a smile.

Hunk not yet out of earshot hears what Lance says, and bursts out defensively, “Hey!”

Shiro always the referee stops the situation from escalating, saying, “all right, save your energy for fighting Zarkon.”

Lance and I catch up with Hunk and Shiro, who are sitting at the table, when Coran walks in carrying a covered tray, “Hello, guys! How was the Voltron workout?”

“We're getting there,” Shiro tells him, “are you and Allura almost done fixing the Castle so we can leave this planet? I feel like we're sitting ducks here on Arus.”

“Just about. In the meantime, to get your minds off those duck seats you're worried about, I made you guys an authentic ancient Paladin lunch!” Coran offers.

He lifts the lid off of his tray to reveal a large brown mass with spots of green oozing out of it, and it has a nasty odor. I have to suppress a gag.

Hunk the bravest of us all gets closer to investigate, “Coran, you just got me hooked on that goo and now you're switching it up?”

Coran responds, “This is packed with nutrients,” dodging the question, and avoiding the acknowledgment of how truly disgusting this, steaming pile of —

“Oh, it smells disgusting!” Hunk shouts after he gets a whiff.

“I know! That's how you know it's healthy!” Coran defends with enthusiasm.

I don’t think that’s how it works.

“Coran, we're on a planet now with fresh herbs, spices, and... whatever this thing is,” Hunk supplies, holding up some sort of plant, “A tuber? Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to head back to the kitchen and spice things up,” Hunk declares as he heads to the kitchen.

God bless Hunk and his magical cooking, the real heroics, saving us all from Coran’s food.

Lance and I finally take a seat, and Shiro asks, “Where's Pidge?”

“—He's probably checking on those prisoners we rescued from Zarkon. They'll all be waking soon in the infirmary,” Coran says.

Coran scoops up a piece of the steaming blob, and Lance and I watch in horror as he directs the spoon to Shiro’s mouth murmuring, “Open the hatch. Food lion coming in!”

I cringe internally and externally, experiencing severe second-hand embarrassment as Shiro turns to face Coran and responds, “No. Just... no,” and gets up from the table, and walks out the door, probably to go find Pidge.

“You don't know what you're missing!” Coran yells to Shiro’s back as he makes his escape.

After Shiro’s gone, I try my best to make myself invisible, unfortunately, that isn’t one of my abilities as a paladin, and Coran turns to Lance and I with a grin and asks, “who wants the first piece?”

I awkwardly look at Lance who looks as terrified as I am, and we both share a small uncomfortable laugh as we look back at Coran, and point at each other.

“Lance does!” I shout, and the same moment Lance says,

“Keith!”

Coran looks between us both, and scoops up mush for both of us, “it’s good for you,” he repeats. 

And Hunk can’t get here fast enough.

After a bizarre few moments where Lance and I continue to push the blob around on our plates while trying to distract Coran so that he doesn’t notice, Hunk comes back in from the kitchen, with food that looks so good, I remember that I am actually pretty hungry. 

Hunk places the plates in front of Lance and me, and we shove our faces full of food so fast, I start to forget any semblance of manners that I may have once learned.

Allura walks into the dining room then says excitedly to Coran, “They like the Paladin lunch!”

But Coran is frustrated that we didn’t actually eat his food, “I don't want to talk about it,” I guess we weren’t as sly as we thought.

“I just got the final nebulon booster working. We should be able to leave Planet Arus tomorrow and take the fight to Zarkon,” she tells the group, but as soon as she stops talking alarms start blaring all over the place.

“What is that?” I ask her.

Allura pulls up a screen that shows what looks like a very small, reptile-like person with horns, walking up to the castle with a very crude sword, “I don't know what it is. Maybe it's a local Arusian. He's approaching the Castle,” she responds.

The little creature scurries behind a rock, attempting to be sneaky, Hunk looks up at him on the screen and says, “Aw!”

Lance comments, “Doesn't look too dangerous.”

I level my gaze at him, “You never know.”

I summon my bayard, ready to fight him off if I have to, but then Allura shouts, “No!” glaring at my bayard, “Alteans believe in peace first,” well I’m not Altean, “let's go welcome them.”

I don’t think that’s such a good idea, but someone has to go with Allura, Coran, Hunk, and Lance and protect them, for what they might not be prepared for. Allura is the first to leave the dining hall and is followed by Coran.

“That's adorable,” Hunk says, still mesmerized by the screen.

“Hey, maybe we can knit him a little sweater!” Lance shouts giddily. 

They follow Allura and Coran’s lead, and go to meet the creature, “I'm not taking any chances,” I mutter as I go to follow them as well.

As soon as we are outside, Allura calls out to the little dude, “greetings! We know you're there. No harm will come to you.”

The lizard man jumps out from the bush that he was hiding in, causing Hunk to share another, “Aw!” with the group.

These people are way too trusting, do they not see the giant and blunt sword that he’s carrying?

I jump in front of Allura before she can get too close, “Wait! He could be dangerous,” I tell the group. 

“Drop your weapon!” I command the stranger.

“No one takes Klaizap's weapon!” He yells at me, great, he refers to himself in the third person, always a promising sign.

Allura takes his side and shouts, “Keith, put that away!” Then turns back toward this mysterious ‘Klaizap’ “Please, kind sir, accept my most humble apologies.”

I back away, and do as she says if he kills her that’s her own damn fault.

“I am Klaizap, bravest of our warriors,” the Arusian explains, “our village is over Gazrel Hill. I come seeking answers as to why the Lion Goddess is angered with her followers.”

“Followers?” asks Coran.

“Lion goddess?” questions Hunk.

“The one that the ancients spoke of,” Klaizap says, gesturing to a lion carving on the wall behind him.

“What makes you think she's angered?” Allura asks him.

“Destruction is everywhere. In the past few suns, fire rained from the heavens and a giant has danced in the sky,” Klaizap describes. 

Well, that definitely wasn’t a lion goddess, more like Lance trying to play soccer with a thousand-ton robot.

Hunk leans over to Lance, “I think he's talking about Voltron.”

Lance sighs, “Yeah, I got that.”

“You have not angered the Lion Goddess,” Allura tells the small man.

“How can you be certain?” demands Klaizap.

I study Allura waiting for her to answer his question, “Because I am Allura and this is my castle.”

What sort of a nonsense answer is that? How about ‘sorry aggressive-little-alien-man there is no omniscient being here, just a man-powered weapon of mass destruction’ but no she decides to imply that she is the lion goddess that he is referring too.

This just got us into a whole new mess.

“Huh?!” Klaizap asks confusedly, before realizing what she was suggesting, “Lion Goddess!” then bowing before Allura.

“Please, bravest warrior, take us to your village so that we may meet our neighbors,” Allura asks him. 

Great, now not only are we taking advantage of this poor alien’s entire belief system, but we are also going on a field trip, “What about our mission to get off this planet and fight Zarkon?” I ask her. The mission she was ready to begin just moments before this fiasco started.

Allura glances at me, “Part of the Paladins' mission is to spread peace and diplomacy. Arus has been our host for 10,000 years. These people deserve our thanks.”

Okay, but while they’re thanking us are you going to mention that, I don’t know… not a LION GODDESS?

I am not happy with this turn of events.

I seethe silently, glaring at the back of Allura’s head as Klaizap leads us to his village and his people.

After Klaizap introduces Allura as the Lion Goddess to his village, their leader approaches us, “Oh, Lion Goddess, I, King of the Arusians, formally beg your forgiveness. Please have mercy on us and accept our traditional Dance of Apology as atonement for our wrongdoings.”

The king turns to his people, “Commence Dance of Apology! Hoorah!”

One of the Arusians starts doing some sort of interpretive dance for us, and it lasts for about ten seconds before Allura interrupts, “Please, there's no need for this.”

Oh common woman, can you not respect even the smallest part of their culture, master of diplomacy my ass.

“Moontow, halt!” The king commands the dancer, and she freezes mid-step.

Then the king turns to his people, declaring “the Goddess has refused the apology. Start the sacrificial fire. We must throw ourselves in.”

Within seconds these tiny little aliens have started a massive bonfire and start moving towards it, what the fuck?

I look towards Allura, I try to gesture, do something princess, isn’t this what you are supposed to be good at?

“No! No sacrifices!” Allura screams at the Arusians.

The king pauses then turns toward us again, “So, we may proceed with the dance?”

Allura nods, “That's a better alternative,” is it really so hard to just say yes?

The dancer finally finishes her dance and we all clap politely, “Oh, my! Please, please, rise. Thank you for that, but I am not a great being worthy of your worship. I accidentally put you all in danger. It is I who should be apologizing to you. I am Princess Allura and the Voltron Paladins. Although we originally came from different worlds... and have very, very, very different traditions, we wish to live alongside you as friends,” Allura tells them.

Took her long enough.

The king who is confused and rightfully so asks, “But the mighty robotic angel... has it not come to destroy us because of our immoral ways?”

Allura shakes her head, “Voltron? No. In fact, that mighty robot is here to protect you. Let it be known that Voltron will protect every innocent being throughout the universe!”

Then the whole village erupts into cheers, and our group splits up to socialize with the aliens. I do not like socializing, and start to wander away from the group, when a small arusian jumps into my arms, I look down at him and say, “I don't... usually hug strangers, but, uh... Man, you are cuddly.”

I start to pat the Arusian on the head when he looks up at me and says in the lowest deepest voice I have ever heard, “Thank you.”

I am dumbfounded and I decide that I am never socializing ever again.

We are all still hanging around the Asurion village when I hear Shiro’s distressed voice coming over our radios, “Team, come in! We need backup!”

We all pause, and Shiro repeats, “Hello?”

Allura is the first to respond, “Shiro?”

“Where is everyone?” Shiro asks, and realize we never should have left, I knew it. We needed to stay focused on our mission, not attend some silly village gathering.

“What's going on?” I demand.

But before anyone answers, I hear a rumbling above us. I look up to see something big crashing through the atmosphere, and I don’t think it's friendly.

“Oh, no. We gotta get to our Lions!” I shout.

Allura herds the Arusians, “Everyone get inside and stay down!” she tells them.

Hunk responds, “I’m on it!” as he tries to run away.

“Huh?” asks Allura as I grab Hunk by the collar of his yellow suit.

“Not you!” I yell at him.

And we run towards the castle.

Once we are in the air, I radio the group and tell them, “lay down some covering fire so they can get out of there!” 

Lance hears me and answers, “I'm on it!”

And we both fire at this new robotic enemy, that’s a similar shape and size to us but appears to be a living being, that's also part robot. Our fire pins the beast in place while we get our team in order, and wait for the Arusians to find shelter.

“Check this out! Battle-Lion head-butt!” Hunk shouts as he rams into the creature.

“You guys okay down there?” I ask Pidge and Shiro.

Shiro responds, “still alive for now,” definitely not the answer I was looking for.

Once Shiro and Pidge get in their lions Hunk helps them meet up with me and Lance, so we prepare to take on the monster.

“Are the Galra behind this?” Hunk asks the group.

“I think so, but I've never seen anything like it,” says Shiro.

“So, what's the plan? Shoot at it with everything we've got? Take out its weapon? Call it names?” Lance demands.

I definitely think Lance should call it names, because if this beast gets as befuddled as I get when Lance calls me ‘Mullet’ it might just work... but I keep that thought to myself.

“If we want to take this monster down, there's only one way to do it. Form Voltron!” Leads Shiro.

We all take off in our formation until all our lions come together and form Voltron, defender of the universe.

“Remember, we are one unit, fighting with one goal,” reminds Shiro.

Yes, sir.

We approach the monster, ready to attack when suddenly we are slammed with a giant purple ball of energy that sends us flying back.

What the hell? “I thought Voltron was the most powerful weapon in the universe!” I shout.

“Yeah,” Hunk agrees, “so how is this monster kicking our butt?”

We are able to dodge the next ball that the monster throws at us, but while we are distracted the beats rams into us, and we almost crush the valley below.

“Oh, no! The village! We have to protect those people!” yells Shiro.

Voltron flies around the robot and takes off in the direction away from the Arusion village, and the monster follows.

“That was close!” comments Shiro.

“We got him away from the Arusians, but we can't take him down!” adds Pidge, who has been MIA since our training this morning.

The beast throws another charged ball our way, and before we brace for impact, Lance yells, “I got it! I'm going to power-kick that orb thing!”

“No! The last time you did a kick, we fell!” I tell him.

“Stop living in the past!” Lance shouts at me, before going for the big kick, and gloriously missing, as I told him he would.

“Oh, no!” Lance declares as the orb crashes right into us. I don’t know how much more of this we can take.

“Pidge, fire lasers now!” Shiro commands.

“Got it! Fire!” Pidge agrees.

But instead of summoning a gun, Pidge summons a shield, “Oops! Ah! Uh..!”

“No! Lasers! Lasers!” Shiro repeats.

The monster lands right next to us and punches us twice, “Every time we focus on that orb, we're blindsided by the monster, and every time we focus on the monster, the orb hits us!” Hunk explains. And he’s right it looks like a lose-lose, no matter what we do Voltron gets damaged and obviously we aren’t as impervious as we once thought.

“Then what do we do?” demands Lance.

I wish I had an answer.

But before anyone can decide or come up with anything useful Hunk warns, “Orb!” right before another ball of energy slams us into the side of a cliff.

That’s it, “Shiro, we gotta move!” but he doesn’t answer, “Shiro, are you there? Shiro!” I call.

When he finally comes back online his voice sounds distant and far away, “That sound... I recognize this monster from my time in Zarkon's prison.” He pauses before exclaiming, “I know how to beat him!”

The monster tries to swipe at us, but Shiro quickly maneuvers Voltron out of the way before continuing, “Listen, there's a loud sound when the orb returns to the base of the weapon, and every third time, that orb needs to charge up. That's this monster's weakest point. That's when we strike.”

“Okay, so what do we do in the meantime?” asks Hunk.

“Defense!” shouts Shiro before commanding, “Pidge, we need that shield!” as another orb flies our way.

The orb is absorbed by the shield and Shiro counts, “That's one. Two more to go!”

Another orb flies at Pidge’s shield, and Hunk yells, “We can't take much more!”

“Last one! Everyone brace for impact!” shouts Shiro as the third orb comes for us, once the energy ball hits us, it will be time to strike.

“Now!” Shiro screams, and I fire my Red’s cannon directly at the enemy. We all watch as if in slow motion as the laser hits the monster.

“It didn't work!” Pidge exclaims.

“So, now what?” Lance asks.

Another orb hits our shield, knocking us back a bit. I can feel Voltron starting to drain, and it's taking its toll on us, the paladins as well.

“When I attacked him before, I had a sword!” Shiro explains.

“Orb! Orb!” screams Hunk.

And we get hit again, and I’m even more exhausted than before, I’m sure the rest of the team is feeling the same way when Pidge comments, “We can't take another shot like that!”

Think think think… then I feel it, the string around my heart, pulling me, “Wait a second, guys! I think my Lion's telling me what to do.”

“Well whatever it is, hurry up and do it! He's about to fire his third shot!” Lance answers.

I summon my bayard and place it in a pocket to the side of my dashboard and turn it, like a key to my hover plane back home, and while the beast is about to give us its final blow, my bayard causes Voltron to gain a sword. 

Hell yes, and with all my might I wave my sword across the monster’s torso effectively slicing it in half and sending the robot to its fiery doom. 

I gasp for air, I’m so drained, my body feels so heavy, but the robot is gone, and Voltron and my team are still standing, that’s all that matters.

“We did it!” Pidge shouts happily.

“How did you do that?” Hunk asks me, but I ignore him and think about my lion.

I pat the dash of my cockpit affectionately, and whisper, “Thanks, Red.”

Looks like we still have a lot to learn, but we’ll all learn it together, as a team.


	3. Keith 1.2.3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song: Say Something by A Great Big World

Keith 1.2.3

After we defeated the monster yesterday, Allura, while in the cave with the Arusians, offered them our castle for a celebration that they wanted to throw in our honor. The party started fifteen minutes ago and I’m ready to leave, but I have to be here to support my other paladins, and best represent Voltron. Up on the balcony that overlooks the massive castle ballroom, the king of the Arusians is finishing his reenactment of our battle, the battle that we were all present for, and happened just over twenty-four hours ago, “The monster fell from the sky! It was an epic battle, but Voltron was victorious!”

He attempts to direct the other Arusians that are also in the performance, but they are not meeting his expectations, “... No. I said, Voltron was victorious!” he repeats.

Once the Arusians finish the performance to the king’s standards, everyone cheers, and Allura greets them, “Thank you, Your Majesty, for that... wonderful production. It saddens me that we must leave tomorrow, but we must continue our battle with Zarkon and spread peace throughout the universe.”

Allura pulls a communicator and hands it over to the king, “Your Highness... please accept this gift. This will allow you to contact us anytime you need help. Arus will be the first planet in the Voltron Alliance.”

He takes the gift and yells, “Hoorah!” and all the Arusians cheer, filling the room with the echoes of their joy.

I am standing in a small circle with Hunk and Lance, when Hunk comments, “We ought to get something like that.”

Lance asks, “Like what?”

“You know, like, a cheer. Like, a team cheer that we do,” Hunk clarifies.

“Mm-hmm. Yeah, okay. How about, uh…” Lance trails off thinking, before adding with enthusiasm, “I say 'Vol' and you say 'Tron.' Vol—” he suddenly stops, looking to me.

He didn’t finish the cheer, how am I supposed to respond, did he forget the name of our robot?

“Uh... Vol-tron?” I offer with a shrug.

“No! No, no, no, no, no. The cheer includes the instructions. I say 'Vol' and you say…”

I stared at him blankly, he still hasn’t finished the cheer, so how on earth am I supposed to know how it goes, “... Vol-tron?” I try again.

He levels his gaze at me, then tells me, “... We'll work on it.”

While I still don’t understand what I did wrong, I do like the idea of getting an excuse to talk to Lance… alone.

Lance takes a sip of the mysterious purple drink that Coran offered us. His eyes bulge and he yells out in surprise, before turning around and asking, “Coran, what is this?”

“Oh, this is Nunvill, the nectar of the gods,” Coran answers gesturing to his own cup.

“It tastes like hot dog water and feet,” explains Lance.

“Yeah, makes a wonderful hair tonic as well,” Coran tells him while splashing some of this ‘Nunvill’ on his mustache, and I could have sworn that his hair actually grew.

Lance looks back down at his drink, starting to look a little green. I share a concerned look with Hunk before asking Lance, “Hey, are you okay?”

Lance doesn’t answer, just continues to look dazed and a little nauseous.

Hunk repeats my question, “are you okay Lance?”

Lance starts to shake his head, and I reach out to grab his arm and offer him support when he just keels over and lands on the ground.

“Lance!” I shout.

“Nunvill… more like None-of-the-paladins-should-drink-this-vill” he mutters dejectedly, and I know he’s fine as I help him to his feet.

Lance goes to get some fresh air for a moment to get the last of the Nunvill out of his system, and once he’s gone I look down at my own cup… I mean how bad could it be?

I take a sip and Hunk watches me expectantly, at first it doesn’t really taste like anything, until…. I start to smell it first, which is an odd sensation, then like a Galra ion cannon, it hits me, a burning sensation, if its year-old garbage that’s being burned, and I spit it out.

Hunk looks shocked but then he starts to smile and then I start to smile, and pretty soon we just start uncontrollably laughing. “Lance was right,” I say in between gasps, “that stuff is disgusting!”

Lance walks back up to us as our laughter dies down and says, “I guess we should get used to this space juice. Who knows when we'll get back home again?”

Hunk answers, “Yeah, if ever.” 

I cringe a little, that was harsh, but I won’t lie that that thought had crossed my mind. We might not get back home for a while, if ever. But I haven’t said it out loud yet. Hunk saying those words just brought the thought to reality. I might not see Earth again, man how I’ll miss those sunsets…

“What do you mean?” asks Lance.

“I mean, if this Zarkon guy has been ruling for 10,000 years, how long do you think it will take for us to fix it? You know, if we live,” Hunk answers truthfully.

“Right. That.” Lance whispers, lost in thought, and I can almost see the emotional gears turning in his head.

“Hey, what do you think the chances are of us landing on a nacho planet?” Hunk asks cluelessly.

But Lance is already lost walking down memory lane, “Well, there's only one planet with Veradera Beach, pizza shack looking over the water, and the garlic knots and... my mom's hugs…” I see a tear start to fall down his soft caramel cheek. “I'm sorry. I think this Nunvill is getting to me. I gotta go,” Lance declares before walking away.

I debate whether or not I should follow him, but what could I say? I don’t have any family back on Earth wondering where I am, or a mom to give me hugs, hell I don’t even know who my mom is. No, I won’t follow him, I’d probably just make things worse, and I can understand needing some time to yourself to figure stuff out. I’ll just give him some space, yeah, and then maybe later tonight I can swing by his room and ask him to explain that silly cheer again, that’ll cheer him up, I might even let him make fun of me, but only just a little.

I am content with my plan when I hear Shiro shout, “Pidge, no...!” across the room.

I make my way over to them, Hunk in tow, to hear Pidge say, “The download from the Galra ship was enough to at least get me in the right direction to start my search. I have a pod all ready to go.”

What, Pidge is leaving? And so soon, he can’t do that. “You can't leave!” I yell at him.

“You can't tell me what to do!” Pidge replies, oh witty comeback genius.

So let me try to explain it to him in a way that he might understand, “If you leave, we can't form Voltron. And that means we can't defend the universe against Zarkon. You're not the only one with a family. All these Arusians have families,” I gesture around the room, “everyone in the universe has families.”

“Yeah, I have a family. They live on Earth. I want to be with them. Is that—Is that, like, a thing that can happen?” Hunk adds.

Ugh, not Hunk too!

“You want to leave, too?” Allura asks him, I didn’t even notice she was a part of this conversation, but I’m glad we are on the same page for once.

“Of course I do. Look, Voltron is super-cool, don't get me wrong, but I never signed up for a lifetime in space fighting aliens,” Hunk tells her.

Ok, I’m done, I step closer to Pidge and scream, “YOU'RE PUTTING THE LIVES OF TWO PEOPLE OVER THE LIVES OF EVERYONE ELSE IN THE ENTIRE GALAXY—!”

I’m interrupted by Shiro grabbing my arm, “—Keith! That's not how a team works. People have to want to be a part of it. They can't be forced.”

I shrug off his grip, relenting. I breathe in, I breathe out, he’s right.

“If you want to leave, we won't try to stop you. But, please, just think about what you're doing,” Shiro directs at Pidge.

“I'm sorry. You're going to have to find someone else to pilot the Green Lion,” Pidge tells us, before walking away.

Allura, Shiro, Hunk, and I all look at each other in shock. Pidge is gone, he just left us, like he doesn’t even care. 

I try to shake this off, no big deal, it's fine, we’ll all be fi—

All at once the castle shakes with a cracking BOOM! Dust is everywhere and pieces of the ceiling come crashing down onto the ballroom floor, many of us almost topple over as the ground shakes. 

We are under attack.

After the initial shock wears off, we all nod at each other as we follow Shiro’s lead and take off running towards the bridge.

Arusians voices are screaming in confusion in the distance, and the farther away we get, the more their voices are drowned out by the thundering of our footsteps as we sprint down the hallways.

I hope Lance is okay wherever he is, we’ll find him after we figure out what the threat is. As we get closer to the bridge it's clear that we are also getting closer to the epicenter of the explosion. The walls are lined with thicker and darker marks, from the heat and power of the attack. 

Shiro is the first onto the bridge, and as I follow him I look down and see Coran trying to get up off the ground, that’s odd, what is he doing here….

Then it hits me.

Lance telling us, ‘I gotta go’

I remember seeing him walk away. 

He just needed space.

It hits me, Coran left the party soon after Lance.

Coran.

Coran followed Lance.

Which means

Lance is in here too.

Shiro asks Coran something, but it feels far away, then Allura shouts, but I don’t hear anything as I look up and see Lance, lifeless on the ground.

No.

Shiro runs to him and I’m right behind him. 

No no no no-no.

Lance’s hazel eyes are closed, and his face is so scraped up. I can’t breathe.

I recall Lance’s last words, ‘there's only one planet with Veradera Beach, pizza shack looking over the water, and the garlic knots and... my mom's hugs…’ 

Lance, who never sits still, who never has a straight face, now becomes both.

My senses slowly start to come back to me and I hear Shiro say, “He doesn't look good.”

I can’t, I can’t be here right now. I need to do something, anything. Whatcanido…

The next thing I know the Aursian King walks into the room, “Lion warriors, our village is under attack! We need help!”

And in a voice that feels so unlike my own, I hear myself shout, “Let's get to the Lions!”

“You can't. They're sealed in their hangars. There's no way to get them out. We're defenseless,” Allura tells me.

It's all just too much, I need to get out of here, there isn’t enough air, not enough space.

“Will you not help us?” the king asks again.

“We'll help you. We just—” I start when I hear Lance groan in pain.

I forget about the castle, about the king, about the lions, about Pidge leaving, I forget about everything except that one sound that nearly tears me in half. I’m relieved that he’s alive, but the pain, the groan, he’s suffering, and I don’t know how to help, I don’t know what I can do. I need to help him, anyway I can, I need to do something.

I feel helpless.

While I was lost in thought, Coran, Hunk, and Pidge get up and say something about crystals, and I slowly come back to myself, and to the situation at hand.

What would Lance want me to do? 

I speak up, “I'll go see what's happening at the Arusian village.”

Allura replies, “I'll go with you, Keith. I brought this on the poor Arusians.”

I just nod, as Shiro says, “I'll tend to Lance and stand watch over the Castle.” There’s no one I trust more to watch over him.

Knowing that Lance is in safe hands, I take off with Allura and the King to go save some Arusians.

As we approach the village, I am immediately struck with the overwhelming scent of smoke and a lot of it. The alien constellations are hidden behind the black clouds, and as we climb to the rim of the valley to scope out the village I am scared to see what is the source of the black clouds. 

At the top of the hill, I look down to see an endless sea of red flames. The entire village in ruins, I am momentarily paralyzed, and Allura is equally in shock when she asks, “What's happening?”

The king responds with a point of his fingers, “Look! Attackers!”

He points to a bunch of Galra sentries, that appear to be ransacking and destroying his village. 

“I'll go in for a closer look,” I tell them, then turn to Allura, “Stay here with them.” I don’t need her getting in the way and causing more damage.

I run down the hill towards the enemy line, with Allura yelling behind me, “Keith!”

I don’t respond to her and sprint into the village. I hide behind a ruined building and peer around the corner. As I study the sentries, I see that they are all broken barely standing up on their own, “What? Oh, no,” shit.

“They tricked us!” I holler at Allura, “it was just a diversion to separate us and thin the Castle defenses!”

I clamber up the hill as fast as I can and head to the castle as quickly as I can. Allura follows me, and I hope we make it in time. 

I keep glancing up at the castle, something is wrong, and we’ve been playing right into the Galra’s hands, they wanted us to leave the castle, with Hunk, Pidge, and Coran trying to get a new crystal to power the ship, and Allura and me trusting the Arusians and leaving to investigate their claims, no one is guarding the castle or the lions but a half-dead Lance and Shiro. 

I push my lungs as hard as I can, leaving Allura in the dust, I make it onto the bridge, slamming my feet into the ground as hard as I can, willing myself to work harder, be faster. But within yards of the palace, all I can do is watch as a purple Galra particle barrier goes up around the castle. Keeping me out, and holding Lance and Shiro trapped inside with crazed genocidal aliens.


	4. Keith 1.2.4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song: Paralyzed by NF

Keith 1.2.4

“We're too late... No!” I shout as I bang my fist against the barrier uselessly. 

Allura adds, “They have control of the Castle. They're taking Voltron!” and they have Shiro and Lance, not that she cares.

“Can we break through the barrier?” I ask her summoning my bayard.

“No. And whoever has taken the castle has a crystal, which means they'll be able to fly the ship. We have to stop them,” explains Allura.

Yeah, I know we have to stop them, “How are we going to do that?” I demand.

My mind is trying to grasp any ideas, but any glimpse I get at something quickly fades, I don’t know what to do, I can’t help feeling like I’ve failed. Just as I am about to lose hope, I hear Pidge through my helmet, “Keith, can you hear me?”

And bam just like that, we have a chance.

“Pidge! Is that you? Where are you?”

“I'm inside the Castle,” Hell yes, “Sendak has taken over and he's preparing for launch,” not good, “He's got Lance and Shiro,” I tense up, my worst fears confirmed, until this moment I was hoping that maybe Shiro and Lance had gone unnoticed, but now I know, Sendak has them. They are his hostages.

“Pidge, listen,” Allura speaks up, to talk to Pidge, “If they've started the launch sequence, then we don't have much time before liftoff to stop it.”

“What do I have to do?” Pidge asks her.

“You have to get down to the main engine control panel and disconnect the primary turbine from the Central Energy Chamber. If you can do that, Sendak will have to reset the whole system. That might give us enough time to find a way to stop them,” Allura tells her.

“Got it, I’m on my way there, I’ll contact you again once I reach the control panel.” Pidge signs off.

Ok, this is good. We have eyes and ears inside the castle, and we have the beginnings of a plan. But while we wait for Pidge, I start to grow restless.

I slide onto the ground, resting my back against the particle barrier. I stare up at the sky, trying to finalize a plan for once Pidge gets us into the castle again. I let out a breath, stay calm, we have a chance again, we can do this.

Allura comes to sit next to me and says, “So, Keith, we haven’t really gotten to talk before now…” she trails off.

She looks at me expectantly, what she wants me to carry this conversation forward? How is that my job? “No, we haven’t,” I say without looking at her.

She continues looking my way and tries again, “Keith I can’t help but notice that you don’t seem to like me very much, is there any particular reason?”

You mean besides the fact that the only person who I’ve ever had feelings for in my entire life is head over heels for you and you just ignore him, besides the fact that you are a horrible diplomat, and besides the fact that you are completely condescending all the quiznaking time? “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I look over to her.

She kind of nods, like she knows exactly what I was thinking, “You know,” she pauses shifting her body to face mine, “I have always been a princess, but I’ve never been a leader.”

I quirk an eyebrow before she explains, “My father was the king, he was this great leader, and I was always just a follower, learning from him, but never leading myself. Until all of a sudden I woke up in this castle, in the arms of Lance, and 10,000 years have passed. Now I have to be a leader, and I can’t help but feel like my father would be disappointed.”

Out of all the conversations I ever thought I’d have with the princess, this definitely wasn’t one of them, and I actually feel bad for the girl, “Look, I’m not gonna pretend that I would know what your father would think, but you’re doing the best with the situation that you’ve been given, I mean you’re only—” I pause, “Altean” I finish lamely. I just used an American saying that Allura will probably interpret as an insult, great.

But she cracks a small grin, “I think I understand what you’re attempting to say. Thank you.” She waits before adding, “I really hope that we can grow to be friends, you know.”

I nod, “I hope so too.”

Then she changes the subject, looking off into the distance, “I hope that Lance is alright.”

I stiffen, my voice barely above a whisper, “me too…”

For a second, I think she knows, knows about all of it, as she reaches out to my arm, to comfort me. How does she know? Am I that obvious? 

“I know he’s your friend,” she tells me.

Oh, so she doesn’t know. 

“Yeah, he is,” I say. 

A solemn quiet blankets us, I know that we are both thinking the same thing, that no matter how much we hope, he could be dying or already dead, and as long as we’re stuck out here there’s nothing we can do to stop it.

“Okay, Allura, I'm near the turbine. I think it's started,” Pidge calls in.

“Then you'll have to hurry. Cross the catwalk to the main column in the center,” Allura tells Pidge.

“Okay.”

“Now, open the hatch. Find the central computer control hub and enter the following sequence…” Allura then starts listing off words and numbers that are completely unfamiliar.

Apparently Pidge is equally confused, “Wait, wait, wait, wait! Which one is it? All the labels are in Altean!”

And with that last shout, we get nothing but static, “I've lost connection with Pidge!” Allura shouts.

Then a wind starts to pick up and the ground starts to shake, “Oh, no! It's taking off!” Allura tells me.

Shit shit shit.

But then as suddenly as it started, everything calms down, and I’m pretty sure Pidge did something right.

And then Pidge comes back online, “Ok, I think I stopped the launch and gave us some extra time.”

“Nice job Pidge!” I commend him.

Allura chimes in, “Yes great work, but there's not much time before they get the ship running again. You must shut off the particle barrier so we can get in.”

“You got it. Tell me what to do.”

“The particle barrier generator is beneath the main hull, in the generator room, there should be a latch on the ground that opens up the chamber to the generator room.”

“Okay, I’ll start heading there now,” and Pidge ends the call.

After we give Pidge a few minutes, Allura checks in, “Pidge, have you made it to the Generator Room?”

“I'm in. This technology is so advanced, I don't know if I can figure it out.”

“Yes, you can. The lives of your fellow Paladins are at stake. You can't give up,” Allura says to Pidge.

And after a moment Pidge replies, “Okay. Talk me through it, Allura.”

“Shutting down the barrier from this room can be dangerous. Remember, the barrier is also a weapon. So, stay away from the energy arcs.”

The barrier is also a weapon? I’m lost.

“Don't touch the giant lightning bolts. Got it.”

Lightning bolts?

“Now, what I'm going to need you to do is—” Allura starts, but is cut off by a scuffling on Pidge’s end.

“Pidge! Hello? Are you there?” Pidge doesn’t respond, “Pidge, what's going on?” but still no answer.

Then Allura pauses before declaring, “... Wait... the mice! Maybe they can help.”

I keep forgetting that she has some strange psychic bond to four space mice, which is weird even for me. Next thing I know she’s closing her eyes and scrunching her eyebrows together forcefully. 

I guess I’ll just stand here and watch her think really hard. 

Finally, after the longest ten minutes of my life, the particle barrier dissipates, “It worked!” I exclaim surprised.

“They did it!” Allura cheers.

And with this new hope, we both charge into the castle to save our team.

Just like when I was running to the castle from the Arusian village, I push my lungs as hard as they can go, then harder. Making my legs go as fast as they can.

I only have one word on my mind, one goal.

Lance.

Allura and I have a plan, basically, I distract, and she sets the trap. I can be a good distraction, I try to convince myself.

I can see the bridge up ahead, its go time. 

The first thing I see is Sendak holding Pidge in the air with his mega prosthetic arm, taunting him, “You really thought your little hologram trick would work with me?”

When he notices me, I summon my sword and start toward him, “Stand back!” he commands me, holding Pidge as collateral.

For a moment I’m stuck, unsure of what my next move should be when there’s a blast from behind Sendak and suddenly he releases Pidge from his grasp in a moment of painful shock. I dare a quick glance behind him to see Lance collapse. 

He’s still alive. And suddenly I feel unstoppable as I charge at Sendak, I’m ready to take him down.

I swing, for Pidge, I slash, for Allura, I strike, for Hunk and Coran. I stab at Sendak but his own blade meets mine and for a moment we are at a stalemate, but out of the corner of my eye I see Pidge running at Sendak, and in a flash, Pidge has sliced Sendak’s arm clean off. 

Sendak screams in pain, as Allura shouts, “Keith, now!”

I do a roundhouse kick and send him flying towards the damaged crystal, he crashes into the center just as Allura summons a particle barrier trapping him inside.

And that one’s for Lance. 

With Sendak taken care of, I search for Lance. 

I run straight over to him, he’s starting to come to, “Lance, are you okay?”

I look him up and down, he’s obviously not okay, stupid question, why did I ask that?

I reach my hand out to him, and I lean down so I can close this space between us. I look at him, take him all in, I don’t give a damn if I look it, I care about him, and I need to be as close to him as I can be.

He clasps on to my outstretched hand and holds on like I’m the only thing keeping him tethered to the world. He looks up at me, his hazel eyes looking more brown, and he says, “We did it,” and I let out a relieved chuckle, yeah we did, I grip his hand tighter, afraid to let go, afraid that if I do I might lose him again.

“We are a good team,” he whispers to me, holding my hand a little tighter too.

I smile at him, I’ve never been so relieved in my entire life, but before I can say anything else his eyes start to drift shut again, “no-no, Lance, stay with me. Lance!” 

He gives me one more smirk before he’s out again. I pull his arm around my shoulder lifting him up, and in one fluid motion, I cradle his head in my right arm and swing his legs over my left arm. He’s out cold, and his head lulls on my right shoulder as I whisper, “I thought I lost you” into his soft brown hair.

With Lance in my arms, I turn to Allura, “Can I take him to the infirmary now?” 

Allura answers, “Yes, take him, Coran just commed in, Hunk and him should be here any minute with the new crystal, and we can start healing Lance.”

I nod and start making my way towards the infirmary. 

I get there and neither Hunk or Coran have gotten back yet, so I lay Lance gently on the ground, and sit next to him, supporting his head in my lap.

I brush a piece of his hair off of his forehead, “Lance” I pause, “Lance, I think I’m in love with you… I think I have been for a long time.”

But I know he doesn’t hear me, and won’t respond, but I wish he could, I wish I could hear him say it back.

But he can’t, so I sit in our silence, and let the weight of what I just admitted settle on my shoulders.


	5. Keith 1.2.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song: I Found by Amber Run

Lance 1.2.5

My hands are tangled in his raven hair, my chest against his, I can feel his heart pounding, or is that mine? Maybe they’re one and the same. His mouth teases my neck, lightly brushing my throat, like a feather, more, I want more. My hands caress his muscled torso, lifting his black shirt up and over his head, but I’m slow, getting lost in his hair, his smell, his lips. 

He releases a small groan and in one fluid motion he finishes the job, pulling his shirt up and over his head, tossing it aside, and for a moment I am cold, but then he comes back, keeping me warm, I place my hands on the nape of his neck, pulling him to me. 

Our lips meet, and it's like a symphony, a perfect balance of our two worlds, working together, giving and taking pushing and pulling, like waves. 

“Keith…” I moan into his mouth, and I can feel his smile….

“Lance…” he looks up at me, with those deep purple eyes, damn, he takes my breath away, “Lance, I think I’m in love with you… I think I have been for a long time.”

But then he starts to blur, fading away, I try to hold on, I grip his hand, holding on to him, I don’t want him to go, but soon there’s nothing but black as he winks out of existence, and I’m left alone in the dark.

Keith 1.2.5

Lance has been in the sleeping pod for twenty-three hours, fifty-nine minutes, and twelve seconds. I know that because I have been stopping by the Infirmary deck every hour on the hour to make sure that he’s okay, or at least on his way to being okay.

Fourteen seconds.

Fifteen seconds.

The entire team is swarmed around Lance’s healing pod, waiting. Allura said one day, and it’s basically been a whole day, how much longer could he need?

“I can't tell if he looks healthy... or not,” Hunk comments.

What why wouldn’t he look healthy? I study Lance’s peaceful face, he seems okay to me, but maybe that’s just what I want to see.

“I think he's breathing weird,” Pidge adds.

I don’t like that assessment at all, I lean closer to the edge of the pod and tap on the glass hoping for a sign, “Oh, come on!” I say impatiently.

“Not yet! A few more ticks,” Allura scolds me.

I cross my arms angrily, “How much better do you think he's gonna get in a few more ticks?” I accuse.

“And what exactly is a tick?” asks Pidge.

“You know, a time-slice,” Allura answers.

Shiro thinks for a moment before offering, “What, like a second?”

“What is a... ‘second’?” Allura questions, now confused.

Pidge pulls out a timer to show Allura what we’re all talking about, “Like this,” we all watch as the watch lights up as each second passes by.

“I'm not sure. I think ticks are bigger,” she says before turning, “Coran, do you have a ticker?”

“Right here, Princess” Coran says as he pulls out his own counting device, the whole group migrates over to where Coran is standing to get a look at this ‘ticker’.

“I think ticks are a little slower,” Hunk comments.

“I can't tell. We have to start them at the same time” Pidge explains.

As much as I want to be there for Lance right when he wakes up, I’ve been driving myself crazy waiting, this is a good distraction.

“Okay. Ready, go!” Coran starts.

And we all study the watches.

“Yes! I think we're winning,” Hunk exclaims.

How does one win time exactly? “Winning what? The intergalactic time-measuring competition?” I ask sarcastically.

“Yes,” Hunk says with mock sincerity.

I almost laugh at him when I hear, “You guys having a clock party?”

Lance is awake.

Lance 1.2.5

Okay, first thing, I’m in some new space underwear and I have no idea how I got in them. My money is on Coran, and I’m not sure how I feel about that. 

Second thing, I feel like crap, like I fell from a thirty story building, my entire body is sore and stiff making me clumsy, I don’t like it.

And the third thing. Keith Kogane is in love with me… and I had a super amazing make out dream with him cast as the leading role, I have no clue what this means, but I think I might have feelings for him too.

I stumble over to the group, who appear to be huddled in a circle talking heatedly about something. I try walking straight but I find myself tipping over to my left side, I try to correct my falling but end up over correcting and falling over my right side. 

What the heck, lets just go for it, so I force myself to fall forward embracing my inner clutz, as I get closer to the group I notice a bunch of ticking sounds, clocks? “You guys having a clock party?” I ask falling over Hunk, smooth, nailed it.

I give myself a mental pat on the back as Hunk automatically responds, “Aw, Lance, you just ruined it,” before adding, “Uh—Hey, Lance!” and giving me a Huge Hunk Hug, patent pending.

“What happened?” I ask the group, what lead to this odd wardrobe change, major body aches, and a not unwelcome sexual awakening.

“We can tell you all about it while you get something to eat. Are you able to walk?” Allura asks me, studying me.

“Talking? Eating? Are you asking me out on a date?” I level my gaze at her, man I need help, I don’t even need to be completely self aware to just randomly spurt out pick up lines.

My grand word vomit is met by a chorus of, “Yep. There he is” from Pidge.

A “Yep, he's okay,” from Shiro.

And even a, “Classic,” from Keith.

Am I really that predictable?

Keith 1.2.5

Okay. It doesn’t seem like Lance heard anything that I said to him when he was unconscious. I thought that I’d be relieved, but instead I feel disappointed. I don’t know what I wanted, it's not like he was gonna wake up and run into my arms. Stupid.

Hunk helps Lance get to his quarters to get some new clothes, as they walk away I hear Lance ask, “So who changed my clothes?”

Hunk answers with a laugh, their voices are growing distant, I barely hear Hunk answer, “Coran did.”

I walk with Pidge, Shiro, Allura and Coran back to the dinning hall, I over hear Allura and Coran talking about how now that we know that Lance is okay we can take off, and start our mission against Zarkon, finally fighting him on our terms. 

I agree, I am done playing defense, I’ve always been better suited to offense anyway, if we want to win this war we need to think big picture, and not just battle to battle. I don’t lose, and I’m definitely not planning on losing to Zarkon, I don’t care how dangerous he thinks he is, he’s going down.

You know what they say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Lance 1.2.5

After I got a new change of clothes and put on my old military jacket, Hunk took me to meet with others in the dining hall. Sitting there looking at my food and listening to everyone tells me what I’d missed, I start to feel mad at myself, everyone else was fighting the enemy, meanwhile I was taking a nap. Useless.

Allura is responding to something that someone had said earlier, “He'd be Sendak's prisoner right now, if not for Pidge.”

Pidge turns to me and says, “Well, you wouldn't have survived the explosion if Hunk and Coran hadn't gotten a new Crystal.”

I suck, and the only way I can respond is by making a joke, “Wow. Thanks, everybody,” then I turn to Keith teasing, “sounds like the mice did more than you, though.”

“I punched Sendak!” He shouts defensively, I never really noticed before, but he’s kinda cute when he’s grouchy.

“Yeah, apparently after I emerged from a coma and shot his arm off,” I continue, I should do this more often, I like pushing Keith’s buttons, he’s starting to turn a little pink.

“We had a bonding moment. I cradled you in my arms!” He yells shouting and gesturing wildly, I know.

I remember.

Keith leaning down to check on me, ‘Lance, are you okay?’

I remember.

I took his hand in mine, and how it felt like it belonged there.

I remember, but I’m not gonna admit that, at least not yet, and definitely not in front of the entire team.

“Nope. Don't remember, didn't happen,” Keith surrenders, and folds his arms across his chest, “So, what happened to Sendak?” I ask the rest of the group.

“He's frozen in a cryo-pod. We're keeping him here in the Castle,” Allura tells me.

“Are you sure that's a good idea?” I question her.

“He's too dangerous to be set free. Besides, we might be able to get some information about Zarkon from him,” Alright, I’m not gonna fight her on this.

“So, what's the plan now?” I continue.

“We have to get back to the Balmera and save Shay and her people,” Hunk demands.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Hunk have a crush before, “Wow! You are really hung up on this lady,” I raise my eyebrow suggestively at him.

“No, it's not like that. Look, guys, when you see how Zarkon has treated these people and destroyed their home—They've been under his thumb for so long, they don't even know what it is to be free. It's up to us to set this right. This is what being a Paladin of Voltron is all about. It's time to man up,” Hunk explains.

And he can say that it's only about ‘doing the right thing’ as much as he wants, but there’s no denying the blush in his cheeks, he’s head over heels.

“Then let's get moving. Time to go defend the universe,” Shiro declares to the group, and we all get up to leave.

“Wait,” Pidge says, “I have something to say first. I need to come clean and... I'm afraid this may change the way you think about me. Just so there are no secrets between us anymore, I can't ‘man up’... I'm a girl.”

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat

“I-I mean, I can ‘man up’ because that's just a figure of speech. I don't have to actually be a man to ‘man up’ I just have to be tough. But what I'm saying—” Pidge stammers.

“Huh—Eh—Wha—?! You're a girl!? How?” I yell, completely dumbfounded. 

How could I have absolutely no idea about this……….. I’m starting to question everything.

“ I've known for some time, but I'm glad you've shared it with everyone,” Allura says.

“Yeah, I figured,” adds Hunk.

“Oh, yeah, me too,” says Keith.

“Wait, w-we were supposed to think you were a boy?” questions Coran.

“Pidge, owning who you are is going to make you a better Paladin,” Shiro tells him… I mean her. Jeez this gonna take some getting used to.

“It's good to get that off my chest,” Pidge shares, “Now, let's launch this Castleship!”

Everyone else leaves the room, and I’m left alone, still totally lost, “Wait, what? Pidge is a girl and the Castle is a ship? How long have I been out?” I say to an empty room, before chasing after everyone.

Keith 1.2.5

We are in our paladin armor, waiting in the bridge to reach the Balmera, when Hunk starts pacing around all nervous, “Okay. So, when we get there, what do you think? Do we just roll up and like, start blasting? Or do we land and have some... kind of public address system, like, 'Attention, Galras. This is Voltron. Turn yourselves in!”

He pauses, looking at us expectantly before continuing, “No. Blasting, right?”

Poor guy, he’s so nervous, I decide to answer in the most reassuring voice I can muster, “Hunk, calm down. And yes, blasting.”

“Eh, it's our first big rescue mission. He's excited.” Shiro comments to the rest of us.

“Excited to see his new girl-friend~” Pidge taunts Hunk.

Hunk gasps, “She's not my girlfriend! She's just a rock that I met and I admire very much.”

Mmmhmm, a likely story.

But before we can continue interrogating Hunk about his alien crush, alarms start going off, “What is it? Are we being attacked?” asks Shiro.

Allura shakes her head, “No, it seems to be a distress beacon. It's coming from a nearby moon. Apparently, a ship has lost power.”

“I wonder who it is,” Pidge declares aloud.

“Whoever it is will have to wait. Shay has first priority. We can check back on them when we're done,” Hunk demands.

He’s in love.

“The Paladin Code states that we must help all those in need,” Allura argues.

“Wow! This is so cool. It's like we're space cops on space patrol. Coran, do we have a siren we can turn on?” Lance asks changing the topic.

“Uh, no, but we could record you making a siren noise and broadcast that to them,” Coran supplies.

“Perfect!” Shouts Lance before starting to make this horrible hollering sound, I have to cover my face with my hand to stifle my laugh.

But then Shiro approaches Lance and covers his mouth with his hand with a, “No, not doing that.”

Today has turned out to be a pretty good day after all.

After Coran and Allura land the castle on the moon Allura announces, “Attention, damaged craft, this is Princess Allura. We are coming to assist you.”

“Stay aboard and try to get as many of our systems clear of that Galra crystal energy as you can. We'll see who hailed us,” Allura orders Coran.

“Yes, Princess,” Coran agrees, as we all head down to the surface.

On the ground, we find two aliens, the first appears male, the other female, and they have a robot with them as well.

The man is the first to approach us, “You don't know how glad we are to see some friendly faces. Most folks don't want to get tangled up with anyone who's on the run from the Galra.”

“So, you guys are fighting the Galra?” I ask intrigued.

“Well, I don't think Zarkon is exactly quaking in his boots at the three of us, but we do what we can. I'm Rolo. This is Nyma, and our cyber-unit, Beezer.”

The girl, Nyma greets us, “Hi.”

Pidge runs up to Beezer, “Cool robot!”

And Lance approaches Nyma flirtatiously, “Hi! Name's Lance.”

I fold my arms tight across my chest, I am not Nyma's biggest fan.

Lance 1.2.5

I see Nyma and dang she’s good lookin. 

This whole day, I haven’t been able to get Keith out of my mind, what he said, what I heard, how I feel. It's a lot, and I just can’t process it all right now, maybe flirting with Nyma will get my head back on straight. Love sickness is not a good look for me, I need to get it together.

I flex my biceps while giving her a flirty eyebrow tilt, followed by some finger guns, she giggles. Yup still got it.

But then Shiro wacks me, buzz kill.

I look at Nyma and ask, “So, you wanna go somewhere a little more private?”

Nyma laughs again and nods, “I’d love to.”

And we walk away from the group towards the other side of the castle.

Nyma looks my way and asks, “So you’re a paladin?”

I shrug, trying to be nonchalant, “ Yeah, I mean, there are only five of us in the entire universe, so... I guess you could say it's kind of a big deal.”

“I don't understand. The Lions are ships? Are they, like, flying statues that you ride on?”

“No, no, no. They're magic, but also super scientific and advanced. And they fly crazy fast and have all these incredible weapons. Really, the entire Castle is just insane! I wish you could see it.”

“Yes, it's too bad we're not allowed inside. I would love a tour from one of the knights. But I guess the big one is in charge, huh? You have to obey his orders?” 

Orders? I don’t have to follow anyone’s orders, “Who, Hunk? Pfft, I don't have to listen to him!”

So of course I take her inside the castle, I mean, I have to prove my point, and what harm could a pretty girl like her do?

“This place is incredible!” She exclaims, taking it all in.

“Yeah, I guess. You get used to it,” no big deal.

“But it's so gigantic. It must take you forever to get to your Lion.”

I give her a mischievous look, “Ooh, you'd be surprised.”

So, I take her to my lion.

“Pretty slick, right?” I ask her.

Looks like I still have my moves, she’s totally into me. We are hard core vibing.

“Unbelievable! Take me on a ride around the moon?”

I almost say yes, but I’ve already broken my word too many times, “Uh—We should probably get back to the others,” I tell her.

She looks disappointed, “Yeah, you're right. Maybe Keith will give me a ride.”

Um no.  
No one is getting a ride from Keith, except me… wow where did that come from.

I shake my head, no no no no, no more thoughts of Keith, “No! Whoah, whoah, hold on a second! I mean what's the point of having the Lion if you can't enjoy it, right?” I mean what’s the harm? “Giddy-up, buddy!”

It's just a distraction.

We fly the lion around the moon, soaring just above the water of a lake, “Look, a kinetic spring! Let's land over there. The minerals reflect off the water, making a rainbow,” she tells me.

That’s actually pretty cool, “Wow. Is there anything you don't know?”

She leans down to whisper something in my ear, “maybe we should land, and I can show you exactly what I know…”

Yes ma’am.

I land the blue lion and we stop at a nearby tree, I turn to her, “So, ah, you want to see how fast I can climb this tree?”

I’m kinda nervous, I don’t really think we should do anything.... Too much… I want to get Keith out of my head, but I don’t think I want to actually do anything with anybody else besides just some playful banter.

Nyma laughs and says, “Aw, you are cute. Let me show you something. Give me your hand.”

I blush, not sure where this might be going, and reach my arm out towards her, but she places something around my wrists and suddenly I’m trapped to the tree, “Whoa! Uh, this is... kind of…”

I feel a breeze and look up to see their ship flying overhead. 

“Nyma, what's going on?”

A rope falls down from the ship, and Nyma grabs on and starts to get pulled aboard the ship, “Sorry, Lance. Maybe we'll meet again,” and with that the Ship takes off, the Blue Lion in tow.

“Oh quiznak….”

Keith 1.2.5

Rolo left on his ship a long time ago, and I’m starting to get nervous. Lance is god knows where, and Hunk is starting to get an ‘I told you so’ look on his face.

“How many ticks have they been gone?” Pidge asks.

“I don't know. I hope they didn't break down again,” answers Allura.

“Something isn't right,” says Hunk, and I agree. 

“Guys? Hello? Little help?!” I hear Lance’s voice coming through our helmets.

Oh no.

“Lance? Lance! Are you all right? W-What's going on?” Shiro asks him.

“Well, I'm kind of chained to a... a tree” replies Lance. And I have so many questions.

“I knew it!” Shouts Hunk.

There it is.

“Where are they?” Shiro questions Lance.

“Uh... space?” Lance offers.

Not good not good at all.

“Uh, I never trusted those guys, right from the beginning!” Yells Hunk again.

Thus begins the Hunk rant of a lifetime.

After Hunk ran out of breath, and we got our lions up in space, we take off after Rolo and Nyma, but their trail leads us to an asteroid field.

“We'll never get through this asteroid field!” Pidge laments.

“Keith, you're the only one who could possibly fly through this. We need you, buddy. Get in there and flush him out,” Shiro commands me.

“You got it. See you on the other side,” and I take off into the Asteroid belt.

It's kind of a rush, I forgot how much I love a challenge and how much I love flying. Red an I zoom through the asteroids, dodging and speeding, twisting and turning. The adrenaline surges through me, and I’m on cloud nine. I catch sight of their ship and take off after them, I’m right on their tail and getting closer. I can tell that they are getting nervous when they aim their blasters my way, but I efficiently dodge them all, they didn’t even leave a scratch. I give them a few moment's reprieve before I train my lasers on them, and destroy their guns. Game set match.

Check mate.

I chase them out of the asteroid belt, and they are blocked off by the rest of my team.

Hell yes! I loved the thrill and I feel amazing. I shout down the coms, “Yeah! Haha! Hey, Lance, I got your Lion back.”

And I’m actually smiling.

“Thank you, Keith. Now, can you come and unchain me?” Lance asks.

Mmm, this is my chance to get back at him for teasing me earlier, “What's that? I, uh... Y-You're cutting out. I can't—I can't hear you,” I taunt him.

“Oh, come on! I thought we bonded. Keith? Buddy? My man?” 

I knew he remembered, I just needed to hear him say it.

I leave the group to go pick up Lance, I know I teased him, but I would never actually abandon him. 

I use the radios in our helmets to find his exact location.

I land red next to Lance, and quickly hop off.

“Keith, you came!” Lance shouts relieved.

I follow the sound of his voice and I’m surprised to see him lying on the ground, with his hands tied around a tree.

I look down at him, “Of course I did, we’re a team.”

I summon my bayard and make quick work of the handcuffs.

Lance rubs his wrists, and I find myself reaching out to his hands to check his wrists myself.

I wasn’t thinking, it was just a reflex, but suddenly I’m holding his left hand in mine and I roll up his sleeves to see if there are any markings. 

I hiss as I see purple bruises already starting to bloom where the cuffs were resting. 

“Lance… I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner”

Lance, still not pulling away, responds, “You came as soon as you could, and anyway I got what I deserved, you were just cleaning up my mess.”

I shake my head, “Lance, no one ever deserves to get hurt,” then level my gaze his way as I continue, “and I’ll always clean up your messes.”

Lance releases a breathy laugh as he replies, “Keith, thank you for always being there for me.”

He looks up to me and his eyes meet mine, “anytime” I whisper not completely aware of my actions anymore, everything feels so far away.

Lance looks down at our hands, still intertwined, “Lance…” I trail off.

“Keith…”

I study him, while he studies me, both waiting for the other to make the first move, Lance is the first one to break the silence, “Keith… I heard what you said.”

My heart starts racing and I forget how to breathe.

“What?”

“Keith, I haven’t been able to get you out of my head. All day I find myself searching for you in the room. When we aren’t together, my mind wanders to where you might be and might be doing. Keith I don’t think I realized it, until I heard what you said, but…”

I cut him off, “shh.. Don’t speak,” and I lean forward.

I close my eyes, as he leans forward too.

Our lips meet halfway and it was everything I expected it to be, and everything I didn’t. It's like we can’t get close enough, and my hands find his shoulders, and his legs wrap around my torso. I’m gasping and moaning, and Lance says my name, “Keith…. Keith…..” like a prayer over and over again.

His hands wrap around the back of my neck, and my hands go to his hips as I stand up and carry him to my lion, a smile against his kiss.

Back in the cockpit of Red, Lance stands to my left. I can’t believe what just happened.

Lance places his right arm on my shoulder, a calming presence. I look up at him from my seat, and smile. He smiles back, I plant a kiss on his fingers, each one. 

1  
2  
3  
4  
5

I close my eyes, “what are we gonna tell the others?”

Lance pauses for a moment, “Nothing yet”

I nod, I was thinking the same thing.

“Our secret,” I tell him.

“Yes,” he says with a sly grin, “our dirty little secret.”

And we fly off to meet the others.


	6. Keith 1.2.6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song: Sparks Fly by Taylor Swift

Keith 1.2.6

I have always been a pretty good secret keeper, but Lance on the other hand… I’m a little worried. We both agreed to keep whatever we are a secret, but whether or not Lance wants to keep a secret has no sway on whether or not he can keep a secret.

I definitely don’t want to the crew to know anything yet, not because I’m insecure or embarrassed, and Lance doesn’t feel that way either, but it could put some complications into the team aspect of Voltron. So a secret it is, at least as long as Lance can keep it. 

So far I’ve been pleasantly surprised. It's been two days since the whole making-out-on-a-moon-with-Lance thing happened and Lance hasn’t told a soul. What we have are glances and brief touches during the day, a little banter, but our…. relationship?... only takes place after the rest of the crew has fallen asleep, we’ve worked it out to a science. Once Pidge leaves to her room, she’s always the last one asleep, Lance has around ten minutes to make it to my cabin before Hunk heads to the kitchen to get a midnight snack. 

Now, in the middle of the night, I pace in my room, waiting for Lance to get here. It's pretty late so Pidge should be wrapping up soon if not already done. I wonder if Lance is actually taking a long time or if I’m just impatient. I’m usually a logical person, but Lance seems to cause me to throw all rationality out the window and any sense I had of space and time just disappear. It’s terrifying but at the same time I find myself craving that feeling, the butterflies, the lack of inhibition. It's only been a few hours since we all went our separate ways for the night but I already miss him. 

I tense as I hear footsteps outside my door. 

The door opens to reveal Lance, beautiful, wonderful, amazing Lance. He gives me a smile as he walks in, and I go to him.

“Hey,” He says quietly.

Standing right next to each other, I reach out to smooth out his jacket, “Hey,” I smile back.

I look up at him, he’s just a few inches taller than me, and while it should make me feel small and weak, all it does is fill me with comfort. He reaches down to my face, cupping my cheek and pulling me in for a kiss.

Sparks fly, the room instantly warms up and I can’t get close enough to him, “Lance…”

He walks us over to the wall opposite of my bed, my back presses up against it, as he answers breathily between his caresses, “Yes…?”

Damn his voice, so gruff, practically a growl. I moan in response shaking my head, I already forgot everything I was thinking about before he came in, and I kiss him harder, moving my hands through his soft brown hair.

He chuckles, he moves his lips to my neck, leaving whispers, echoes, of his mouth all around me. I’m surrounded by him, but it's still not enough. I don’t think I’ll ever get enough.

I place my hands on his waist, and once again pull him up off the ground, and I walk us over to my bed. Lance looks down at me, “Okay Keith, I like where your heads at…”

Together we lay on my bed, holding on to each other, “Lance…” I pause, looking into those hazel eyes, I can never decide what color they are, “I care about you, so much that it scares me.”

Lance brushes a strand of hair from my face and says, “Keith Kogane, you are the bravest person I know, don’t let silly old me get to you.”

But… “What if something happens to you?”

Lance loses his smile and says seriously, “Nothing is going to happen to me. I know you have my back, and Keith… I’ll always have yours, I promise.”

I nod. I know that he’s trying to make me feel better, and knowing he has my back really does mean a lot, but it's barely been a week and Lance has already been in a coma and tied up to a tree, I can still see the bruises on his wrists. I don’t want to lose him, I already care about him so much, I might even love him, but what if….

“Hold me.”

Lance smirks before saying, “yes sir.”

Wrapped in my covers and holding on to each other, I feel safe and loved, I notice Lance’s breathing becoming more regular and softer, and I fall asleep focusing on that sound, constant and ever present. And I let myself believe that it will always be there, as I make the silent vow: I promise you Lance, I will protect you, no matter what.

And sleep comes for me.

I walk over to the Bridge a few minutes before Lance, so that people don’t get suspicious. Lance is the last person to walk on to the deck, before Allura tells the group, “We'll be arriving at the Balmera soon. Liberating these Balmerans from Zarkon's grasp will not be easy.”

“So, what's the plan?,” Lance asks, “We go in there and just—Pow, pow, pow!,” he yells as he does his best imitation of guns firing, “—And free the prisoners?”

I can’t resist a little teasing, “What was that noise?” I ask him.

“Laser guns,” he offers dejectedly.

Hunk quickly jumps on the bandwagon telling Lance, “No, Lance, I think you mean—” then does his own imitation of a giant cannon, “—Pow!”

Lance, unimpressed says, “That sounds like fireworks.”

Pidge then decides to join the fight, “Technically, they're more like—ba-choo, ba-choo, ba-choo!”

Um… I think that was worse.

Shiro approaches the group, “Okay, enough with the bad sound effects,” before adding, “Besides, it's more like— blam, blam, blam!” with a synchronized motion to along with it.

Not gonna lie, I think Shiro had the best gun imitation, but I’m not gonna tell Lance that.

“What?,” I ask sarcastically.

“You're crazy,” Pidge say to Shiro.

“No way,” Lance agrees.

“Nuh—Wrong,” Hunk comments.

But before the battle can continue Allura scolds us, “Paladins, focus.”

Hunk also adds, “Besides, we can't just shoot at the Galra. This Balmera, it's, like, alive. And from what we've seen, it doesn't look very good.”

To which Coran jumps in, “Yes, it's an atrocity what the Galra have been doing to this grand beast. Stealing its Crystals, it's very life force, without ever performing the energy rejuvenation ceremonies to heal it.”

“After seeing Shay's people enslaved, it made me realize how bad Zarkon really is. And we're the only ones who can stop him,” Hunk continues.

I’ve never seen Hunk so serious about something, this means a lot to him, and I’ll do anything I can to help him out and the Balmerans.

“Okay, so we can't go into the tunnels guns blazing,” Shiro agrees before saying, “Plan B. We figure out how to draw the Galra up to the surface and battle them out there.”

We all think for a moment before Hunk exclaims, “Wait, I know! If we attack all of this big mining stuff on the surface, the Galra troops will have to come out to defend it. Then we beat them up, head down to the tunnels, Voltron saves the day.”

“But how will we know how many are left down in the tunnels?” Shiro points out.

“We can track the Galra and the Balmerans using Biothermal Life Indicator Point Technology.”

Biothermal Life what?

“Oh, BLIP tech!” Pidge adds excitedly.

Oh yes, BLIP tech ...yeah I have no clue what they’re talking about, but I’ll go along with it.

“One of you will need to fly around the Balmera and drop sensors into the shafts on each side,” she says holding up a hologram of a device, “Then we'll be able to see where the Galra and the Balmerans are. There are already sensors built into your suits.”

“I can do it. I just modified the Green Lion with the invisible maze's cloaking ability. I should be able to fly around unnoticed,” Pidge says.

Ok, things are looking good, this might be an easy victory for Voltron.

Coran walks over pulling up a hologram of the caves, “That's their main power generator. If you take that down, it will severely weaken their defenses.”

“We'll stay in cloud cover and give tactical support. With the Castle's defenses weakened from Sendak's Crystal, we won't be of much help to you,” Allura tells us.

“I'll take out the power generator,” Shiro tells us, “Keith, Lance, Hunk, you take out these big mining rigs around the area.”

We all nod, Hunk adds, “Yeah! Okay, let's do this! Let's go kick some alien butt!”

And I can’t help but agree.

As we head for our lions, Lance looks my way and nods his head slightly and I hang back to hear what he has to say. 

He whispers to me, “Just so you know, I found a way to give us a private comm channel, so that we can talk, alone…”

I’m almost giddy, sometimes I wonder if this… Lance and I, is mostly just me, but the fact that Lance went out of his way to do this for us, means a lot. It's not just me.

I put my hand on his shoulder and give him a little squeeze before walking over to my lion.

And I hear Lance’s voice in my helmet, “You know Keith, I don't know anyone else has told you this, but you look hot in that armor…”

I feel my face turn crimson, as I try to stammer out a response, but Lance responds again, “Man, I bet your face is about as red as your suit right now, and don’t worry you don’t have to tell me I look good in my suit, because I already know that I look amazing.”

Its true, but I grumply scold, “Lance…”

I get into the cockpit of my lion and Lance’s face appears on the screen in front of me, “Okay okay, but seriously do you think the Balmerans will have a parade for us after we've freed everybody?”

I chuckle and shake my head, “It's not about the glory, Lance. It's about freeing prisoners from Zarkon.”

“No, I know. I know. But still. When they are eventually freed by us, because we will win today, then do you think they’ll throw us a party?” He continues as our lions launch.

“Lance no, I don’t they will.”

“Too bad… I guess will just have to have a party of our own then,” Lance says suggestively.

My cheeks flame again, I don’t think I’ve ever blushed as much in my entire life as I have in the past ten minutes.

Lance signs off, “Okay Keith, I’m putting us back on the group comms only, no more private discussions till later.”

Okay, everything is going to go smoothly, we are going to free this planet, and then when everything calms down Lance and I are going to have some time to ourselves.

Easy.

Shiro’s voice comes over our radios, “This is it. Get your heads in the game. Remember, the Balmera is a living creature. Make sure you pinpoint only the Galra installations and not its surface.”

“Initiating cloak,” Pidge says as she separates from the group to drop the BLIP devices.

We all split up, dividing to take down as many of the Galra mining devices as we can, I start taking out as many Galra mining towers as I can when I hear Pidge’s voice, “All sensors delivered.”

I continue flying my lion, dodging enemy fire swiftly and easily. I get to another canon, and as I go to take it out, my lion shoots fire, melting all the way through the canon.

“Whoa! Did you guys just see that? I got fire power!” I yell, enthusiastically.

“Hey! I want that!” Lance complains.

But then the tower of the canon I just melted starts to tilt and fall towards the Balmera, “Oh No!”

Hunk swoops in and tries to lift the tower off the ground, “Hey, we can't let this thing hurt the Balmera!”

Hunk is struggling to keep the tower off the ground, when Lance shouts, “I think my Lion knows what to do!”

Lance dives with his lion which then shoots ice, freezing the entire cannon in place, “Ha-Aw, snap! These rays are super cool, just like me!”

Fire and ice huh? I like it.

“Great job, team!” Shiro commends us.

We all wait for a second, but no troops are coming to the surface like we had planned, “Where are all the troops? They're not coming to the surface.”

“Yeah, I remember seeing a lot of Galra guys down in the mines,” Hunk adds.

Just then Allura comes online, “We've located a hangar full of Galra fighters just below the surface. Someone has to take those out before they can launch.”

“They're luring us down, but we have no choice,” Shiro explains, “Keith, Lance, you guys hit the hangar. Hunk, head to the prison to rescue Shay and the other Balmerans. Pidge and I will track down the Galra soldiers.”

“Yes, sir!” I tell him.

“Ten-four!” Lance adds.

“On it!” says Pidge.

“Let's do this!” finishes Hunk.

And Lance and I take off together to take out some Galra fighters.

We land our lions outside the cave where Allura told us the hangar was. Lance and I sneak down the corridors, and one we get close enough we can see what we are up against.

But there’s hardly anyone here, “The entire hangar's only being guarded by a few Sentries.” I comment, then take off to take care of the sentries, I summon my bayard, and jump up, “Let’s go!”

But Lance grabs me by the neck of my suit, “Whoa, w-w-whoa, whoa! Cool your jets, Keith! Don't you remember all that stuff about this Balmera thing being a sensitive animal?”

Damn I totally forgot, stupid, “Oh. Right.”

What is wrong with me? I can’t let myself be distracted from the mission because I’ve been partnered with the guy that I find incredibly attractive and who might find me just as attractive, and all I can think about is how much I want to kiss him right now… Ack! I need to stop, I can’t do any of that.

Focus.

I breath in and out, slowly gaining some of my focus back, the mission, the balmera, freeing an enslaved race…..not thinking about Lance shirtless.

“Yeah, so we can't just blow things up like a psycho,” Lance says.

“Oh, You got a better idea?” I ask defensively because of my embarrassment.

“I do. We sneak into the control room to shut down the bay doors. That'll trap the ships in.”

“That—!” I start to argue, but then I realize, “... Actually... is a better idea.”

I give in, I don’t have to take charge all the time, especially when I am as easily distracted as I have been lately.

Lance smirks, he knows that he’s impressed me, and I can almost visibly see his ego growing. But I don’t care, I’m not jealous or upset, I’m actually proud. I’m proud of Lance and the team we make together. Lance takes off down the catwalk and I follow him with a grin plastered on my face, like a lovesick idiot, and I don’t care.

We reached the roof of the command center, and we chose the section of the roof that we need to break into. I find the spot and summon my bayard to cut through the metal, when Lance shouts, “No, no. It's over here.”

“I know what I'm doing,” I assure him.

I slice through the ceiling, cutting out a circle big enough for us to drop through.

Lance pushes the circle through, and falling through the hole into the control room below, and I quickly follow, swinging down with my arms to land gracefully beside him.

“Keep an eye out for those guards. I'll see if I can find a way to shut the hangar doors,” he tells me as he analyzes the main control panel, and I look out to make sure that no one sees us.

“Uh... Hmm. Nope. Maybe. Uh... Uh... Mm…” Lance thinks out loud.

“Ah, I don't know what I'm doing here. It's all Galra gibberish,” Lance laments.

I sneak over to him, “Let me see,” and take a look at the panel myself. It looks very similar to the one that we have on the castle’s bridge. After a few seconds, a large rectangular button catches my eye, it has a symbol in the center of it that is a similar size and shape of a hand, so I place my hand on it, and voila, the hanger doors close, trapping all the galra ships inside the hangar.

“Whoa! How'd you do that?” Lance asks, I guess it's his turn to be impressed.

I shrug, “I just put my hand on the hand print.”

And we race out of the command center, I slash the control panel in half with my sword as we leave. And once we exit out of the doors, Lance shoots the access pad to get into the room. No one’s getting in there anytime soon.

Shiro’s voice comes over our headsets, “They're drawing us into an ambush, but we don't have a choice if we want to save Shay. We have to follow. Lance, Keith, get to the core. I think we're going to need everyone together to get through this firefight.”

I look over at Lance who nods and answers, “Copy that. We're on our way.”

And we take off to meet up with our team.

Lance and I are on our way to the center of the Balmera to meet up with the group when we stumble on a squadron of sentries, who see us and start firing our way. Unfortunately, their shots are hitting the Balmera and I can hear it crying out in pain. It can’t take much more of this, “Their shooting is destroying the Balmera. We gotta do something!” I call out to Lance.

“Well, we can't shoot back! It'll just make it worse,” Lance cries out.

Lance looks around the room, and then his eyes light up, he has a plan. He turns my way, making some hand gestures that are supposed to convey some sort of meaning to me, “huh?” I ask him.

But then I try to see what Lance was seeing, and when I peer at the soldiers I notice the beams across the top of the cave, and I follow those back to us to find a ladder behind me.

I get it now, I give Lance a thumbs up as I go to climb up the ladder. 

I run, jumping from beam to beam as quickly and quietly as I can while I hear Lance shout at the sentries to catch their attention, so that I can terminate them without their fire.

They start to shoot at Lance, and I know that time is of the essence, I have got to get down there.

I jump down on top of the sentries swinging my sword, I slice the first guard in half, sending him toppling to the ground, I turn to stab the next robot through its heart. Two down. As soon as I can get my bayard out of the chest of that last sentry, I spin around to slice the next one in half again. I finish off the last sentry by throwing my short sword straight into the center of it’s breastplate, and I watch as he falls back onto the ground.

Four for four. 

Not bad Kogane, I smile to myself as I look up and see Lance hiding behind his shield. He rises to give me a thumbs up, when he sees that I’ve defeated all the sentries. So Lance has impressed me once and I have impressed him twice.

Maybe I am still a little competitive.

Together we continue down the caves of the Balmera to meet up with our team, to find ourselves in what is most definitely playing right into the hands of the Galra.

Lance and I walk through some giant doors ahead of us to hear Hunk say, “Not an ambush. More like a trap.”

And the giant doors close behind us, not good.

We walk over to them in the center of the chamber, near what almost looks like a heart, we are literally in the heart of the Balmera, “Whatever it is, keep your guard up,” I tell them.

“The Galra, they gained knowledge that you would return to the Balmera,” I look over to see an alien who must be Shay explains.

“How?” asks Pidge.

“I know not. But they set this trap just for you. I was the bait,” Shay answers.

“Who could have possibly known that we were heading here to save Shay?” Shiro questions.

Hunk answers angrily, “Rolo! Those liars must have told Zarkon.”

We all stand there for a moment letting that sink in when Shiro lets out a frustrated breath and says, “We have to figure out how to get out of here.”

Lance is the first to respond and shouts excitedly, “Wait! We have a giant Castle Ship hovering in the sky. Allura, can you please come get us?”

I look his way, “How do you expect her to do that, genius?”

“I don't know, maybe they got teleporters or something,” he says desperately.

Allura comes over the radios, “We're quite occupied at the moment. We're completely surrounded by Galra ships and we're taking heavy fire!”

I hear Coran say something in the distance before Allura continues, “Paladins, you need to get out of there as soon as you can!”

Lance looks a little pale when he dramatically yells, “This is it! We're going to die here. I can say bye-bye to that parade.”

I roll my eyes.

“Get it together, guys,” Shiro commands us, before adding, “Allura, we'll get there as soon as we can.”

“Perhaps my people can help us get out,” Shay offers.

Shay places her hand on the heart of the Balmera, and continues, “this is how we communicate. The Balmera senses our vibrations and sends a message to those in the tunnels.”

I’m having trouble believing all of this, so I ask as delicately as I can, “Are you sure someone will be able to hear your... hand from all the way down here?”

Shay nods, “The Balmera will deliver the message.”

A few moments pass when Allura’s voice comes in again, “Paladins, do you copy? There's a battle cruiser locked onto us. If it fires with its ion cannon, I don't know if we can survive.”

Lance is the first one to respond, “We're trying, Allura. Shay's pressing her hand against the wall, which apparently sends vibrations to the other rock people who vibrate back or something? Hand talking? I guess the answer to your question is, yes, we copy.”

Shiro asks, “Shay, are you sure the Balmera is sending your message?”

And before anyone else can question anything, one of the locked doorways starts to get crushed between the rocks that surround it, and the door explodes.

“Rax!” Shay yells at the other Balmerans who appear in the doorway.

One of the new aliens, Rax, answers, “We must make haste. We know a shortcut through the tunnels.”

Shiro radios the castle, “Allura, stand by. We're on our way up.”

Once again, we all take off for our lions. 

Lance and I reach our lions together, and before we part ways, Lance grabs my hand and pulls me into him. For a parting kiss.

“Be safe out there,” He whispers to me.

We break away and I nod, “Lets go kick some Galra ass.”

He winks at me and we both get into out lions.

Shiro’s voice echoes from my headset, “Guys, did everyone make it to the Lions in time?”

We all emerge from the caves to fly together in unison. Lance answers shiro, “Come on, Shiro. Who you think you're dealing with, a bunch of amateurs—” right as he crashes into Galra tower.

I have to smother a laugh.

“Do you really want me to answer that?” Shiro asks him.

“No,” answers Lance sadly.

“Let's go!” Shiro commands, and we all take off battling Galra fighters. Taking them out one by one, to get them away from the castle that can’t take much more of this fighting.

I look up to see a giant Galra ship start to fire at the castle, and I hear Allura’s panicked voice, “Paladins, I need you immediately! Five more ticks and we're finished!”

“Okay, team, let's form Voltron!” Shiro yells.

“Yeah!” We all shout in unison as we come together to once again form Voltron, the defender if the universe.

Once we’ve come together we quickly fly over to the warship, pushing it up so that it’s canon is no longer hitting the castle, and Allura and Coran can start playing offense instead of defense.

With a clear shot, we dive out of the way just in time for the castle to hit the warship with a perfectly aimed blow. The Galra ship explodes into billions of small fragments. We did it.

“Yeah!” Hunk and I both yell.

“Nice shot, Princess!” comments Pidge.

“Yeah! The parade's back on,” finishes Lance.

We land Voltron back on the Balmera, to wrap up things here with the freeing of the Balmerans.

“Mission accomplished,” I say to the group.

“And just in the tick of time. The Castle's defenses are battered and will need to fully recharge,” Allura adds.

But just then alarms start blaring and we look up to see some other Galra weapon entering the atmosphere, in a circle of flame.

“There's an unknown object incoming! It's about to crash into the Balmera!” Screams Coran.

“What the heck is that?” asks Lance, and I wish I had an answer.

“... Trouble,” answers Shiro.

We all wait, holding our breath, to see just what exactly we are going to be fighting next.


	7. Keith 1.2.7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song: Everything by SMNM

Keith 1.2.7

“Oh no!” shouts Pidge.

I look forward to see a giant Galra pod that has landed on the surface of the Balmera. I can’t believe how nasty our luck has been. The Balemerans were just freed by their Galra overlords just to be attacked yet again. 

“Please tell me there's not a giant monster in there. Please tell me it's empty! Or full of space candy. One of those two. Either one is fine,” Hunk rambles.

I have a feeling that there is some sort of monster in that horrible alien box, but we’ve defeated these Galra monsters before, I’m not too nervous.

“I don't think it's a piñata, Hunk,” says Lance.

Nodding to myself I add, “If it's the same kind of monster that attacked us on Arus, we already know how to beat it,” I finish summoning my bayard and activating Voltron’s sword.

Pidge does the same with her bayard, creating a shield. We’re ready.

“Hold your ground!” Commands Shiro, as the doors of the giant pod, open up to reveal another robotic monster similar to the one we’ve fought before. 

It looks somewhat humanoid, with crimson legs and arms, at first it's completely still, but suddenly it activates. The green circle in the center of its chest lighting up getting brighter and brighter, until a giant green laser fires directly at us.

Luckily we are able to block most of the damage with Pidge’s shield, but the blast sends us sliding backward a good distance.

“It's not candy!” Hunk comments.

“And it's not the same monster!” Lance says in response to my comment earlier, I guess he does listen.

We spin away to get out of the beam’s fire, then swiftly continue to dodge its lasers, but the monster then hits the Balmera instead. I can almost feel the creature crying out in pain, the echoes of the cries that I heard while I was in the cave system with Lance still fresh in my mind, we have to protect the Balmera.

“We need to draw its fire away from the Balmera's surface!” yells Shiro.

Together we fly higher in the air, but we can’t dodge all of the beast’s attacks.

“We can't hold out!” Lance exclaims while we get hit with the brunt of another alien blast.

“My lion's weakening! If the shield sustains structural damage, we're done for!” Pidge adds.

I can feel the fatigue setting in, my bones are aching, my breathing getting more irregular, and my heart is beating so fast, “Pidge is right!” I shout.

Lance then replies, “Oh Pidge is right. I'm the one that said, ‘We can't hold out!’”

But I can’t seem to think straight, I’m tired, and I keep getting distracted. I focus on Lance, his voice, his lion, which brings me back to myself and the situation at hand. While I am looking down at Lance’s lion, which is directly below mine, I realize that he’s about to ram into a rock, “Lance, watch your footing!”

Lance doesn’t have time to correct his trajectory, and Voltron trips and crashes into the surface of the Balmera.

“Okay, Team Voltron, disband!” Shiro tells us.

We separate and start to fly in formation, “Everyone, evasive maneuvers! It can't shoot us all at once!” Shiro continues, and we all fly in different directions. 

But the single laser that the monster was shooting at us, morphs into what must be at least twenty different deadly beams, going after each and every one of us, “Okay, it can do that too,” Shiro quickly amends.

This monster is a much bigger foe than we’ve fought before, and any plan that we think of, the beast already has a solution. I don’t know how we can win. I thought Voltron was supposed to be the greatest weapon in the universe, but now I’m not so sure.

After a few more failed attempts to defeat the robotic monster, we decide to return to the cave shafts. Lance and Pidge head over to one, while Hunk, Shiro, and I head to the shaft with Shay and her family.

Once we land and emerge from our lions, Rax, Shay’s disgruntled older brother asks, “What is happening?”

“There's a monster up there that Zarkon sent to destroy us,” I tell them.

“A monster?” Shay asks worriedly, “Will Zarkon's savagery never abate? Perhaps our people were never meant to be free,” she says leaning into her father sadly.

I look over to see the determination in Hunk’s eyes. He really cares about this girl and her people.

“Shay, don't give up,” I can see the emotion rimming his eyes, “Zarkon's power grows with every planet he conquers, but he's weakened by every being that fights back.”

“Fight back? Against a monster like that? How?” Shay looks to us hopefully.

I would also like to know the answer to that question, and I turn to face Hunk as he says, “I don't know, but we can beat it. Tell her, Keith…” 

Hunk looks at me expectantly. Um… “Can we?”

Luckily Shiro jumps in, “Yes, we can! This is our first mission and we're not going to fail. We can beat it. We just need some time to come up with a plan.”

“See?” Hunk tells Shay, “Told you we can. Thanks, Shiro.”

Then the Balmera starts to groan and shake again. I don’t think this planet can last much longer.

Coran radios us telling us that the Balmera only has hours left, and so Allura hatches a plan to get all the Balmerans to the Castle, in an effort to save everyone before the planet implodes. 

Voltron just needs to distract the monster for as long as we can while she does so.

We rush to our lions, time is of the essence. We have to get up there and provoke this monster.

All of us take to the air, firing at the monster and getting it to follow us away from the castle as Coran lands the ship on the surface. 

“I think we've got him pretty distracted. Are the Balmerans in position?” I ask Allura and Coran over the radio.

“They're making their way to the top,” Allura explains.

Good. We might just make it out of this.

The monster keeps firing at us, but I’m not sure how much longer we can keep this charade up.

Hunk seems equally nervous when he says, “Every hit weakens the Balmera,” then asks Allura, “Have you evacuated yet? What's happening?”

“The Balmerans are trapped. Just keep distracting that beast!” Coran offers.

Easier said than done.

“Uh, do you want us to distract it by dying? Because that's what's going to happen!” Hunk screams.

I’m getting frustrated, and Hunks shouting was the last straw, “Guys, this isn't working. We'll never take this beast down in our Lions.”

“Well, forming Voltron didn't work, either,” Pidge points out.

“Not without some way to shoot all those laser eyes at once,” Lance adds.

But then Hunk yells again, “Guys! Guys, something's happening here! I-I think there is a way to take down all those laser eyes at once.”

Okay, but how?

“Well, what is it?” Pidge asks.

“Do you remember how Voltron formed that sword with Keith's Bayard? I think my Lion's telling me I can do the same thing with my Bayard,” Hunk explains.

“Are you sure?” I warily ask.

“Let's find out,” Hunk says, and we all come together to form Voltron.

We all wait for Hunk to activate his bayard, “Are you guys seeing this?” He asks us.

A bunch of schematics appear on my screen, showing targets on all the eyes of the monster, “Roger that,” I tell him.

“Let's see what this thing can do. Engage!” Shiro shouts.

Hunk activates his new weapon, which effectively eliminates all of the beast’s lasers. The monster sways then falls to the ground in a heap of metal.

We did it.

With the monster defeated, we fly towards the castle, and quickly land. Once we all leave our lions we run towards Allura, Coran, and Shay’s family. 

But as we approach the group, we are startled to see the Galra robot start to rise, it’s green laser activating.

But we are so far away from our lions, there's nothing we can do.

“No!” yells Allura.

I turn to Lance who is standing to my left, and I meet his eyes as his meet mine. He gives me a small smile, and then mouths the words, “sweet dreams mullet.”

And before I can say anything in response the monster gets closer and the beam gets brighter. I don’t know what to do, what can I do?

I promised to protect him, and I can’t. I feel so helpless.

The ground starts to rumble and I shift to stand in front of Lance, to shield him in any way I can. But just as the beam is about to take aim, crystals start to grow at the monster’s feet, spreading to cover the entire monster, and finishing him off by stabbing the monster through its chest exactly where the laser would have been. 

And just like that. We were saved.

I close my eyes and take a breath as a single tear falls down my cheek in relief.

Lance closes the distance between us and gives my hand a quick squeeze before stepping away again. I shake my head, I can’t let all this emotion get the better of me.

“No. Way” Hunk whispers in awe.

“The Balmera just saved us,” Coran comments.

Hunk bends down towards the ground and says, “Oh, who's a good Balmera? You are. Who ate the big monster? You did. Yes, you did. Yes, you did.”

I have to ask, “Dude, what are you doing?”

“What? It's alive, and it wuvs my scwatches,” Hunk explains.

Yup, everything is just as it should be.

Back on the Castle, everyone starts heading to their own quarters. Lance and I stay back taking off our helmets and putting them away slowly. Once everyone is far enough ahead of us, Lance grabs for my left hand and I give it to him. Suddenly I’m balanced again. I can breathe. 

Lance rubs his thumb against the back of my hand, softly, tracing circles. We head towards my room. The room approaches on my right, and I notice that we both pick up the pace. As we get to the door, Lance leans into me, and the doors open up to let us in, Lance spins me around to the wall to the right of the door, and he kisses me. He holds my arms above my head and my back arches, shoulders crashing into the wall. 

The kisses are fast and hard, I gasp between them, and I bite Lance’s lower lip gently, causing him to moan. Lance lets go of my arms to run his hands through my hair. I then use mine to lift his shirt up over his head, and I find myself leaning towards his chest, kissing his muscled torso, softly again and again. 

Once we both need to catch our breaths, we touch our foreheads together and breathe. Matching our breaths to each other. My back rests against the wall, and Lance's arms are on either side of my head, my hands on his shoulders. 

“Wow…” Lance trails off.

I smile, “yeah..”

Lance moves his face away from mine to look me in the eyes, “what took us so long?”

I know exactly what he means, all those years at the Garrison, nothing, “I guess you just weren’t ready for me then,” I taunt quietly.

“Mmm…” Lance says trailing off playfully, before adding seriously, “Keith, I’m ready now… ”

I stiffen, “You are?” I whisper.

Lance nods, “Yeah, I am,” he says, “Mullet, after today, when that monster came back again and we were all out in the open, just standing there. You immediately turned to me, and I saw that fear in your eyes. Such panic, and it wasn’t even for yourself, you were scared for me.” He takes a moment. Before adding, “And then I realized that I was probably looking at you the exact same way, because I didn’t know how to help you, how to keep you safe, and it was agonizing.”

He pauses, “Keith Kogane,” I love it when he says my name, his voice so soft, “I don’t know what this adventure has in store for us… I don’t know if we have years or months, hours or minutes… but I do know that I want to spend as many as those moments with you. No regrets.”

I feel so warm, my heart expands, my eyes taking this entire moment in, “Lance, I’m ready if you are,” and I lean towards him to give him a quick kiss.

He gives a small laugh, before winking at me mischievously, “well… let's have our own little party then…”

And he grabs my hand and leads me towards the bed, leaving a trail of clothes behind us.


	8. Keith 1.2.8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song: Rescue Me by OneRepublic

Keith 1.2.8

He smells like sunlight feels. Warm and like home. Lance and I are lying in my bed, his head resting on my pillow, my head resting on his bare chest. I find myself getting lost in the rhythm of his heart. Like a metronome, steadying me, calming me, drawing me in. My arm is draped around his waist. I look up at him, and I am happily surprised to see that he was already looking at me. He leans forward to plant a kiss on my forehead. I close my eyes. I never want to forget this moment, or the past few hours. I want to remember every detail. Lance’s warm, tan, and soft skin. His smell, the sun and the sea. The way we fit together, like it was destiny. I even want to remember the plain sheets and the bare walls. All of it. 

“What are you thinking about Mullet,” Lance whispers softly, running his delicate fingers through my tousled hair.

I sigh, “I’m just thinking about how I want to remember everything about this moment,” and just like that, my heart is out in the open, completely exposed. Lance has a way of making me share everything, the good and the bad. It's terrifying, but in a good way, like a rollercoaster that I never want to get off of.

Lance rests his hand on the back of my neck and smiles, “I don’t want to remember it,” he says, pausing, “I already know its a night that I’ll never forget.” I can’t help blushing, my face turning an ungodly shade of red. “Oh,” he adds, “and I’m sure I’ll never forget you moaning my name all night long…” smirking at me.

Well he’s not wrong, but out of the two of us, I know who was louder, I raise an eyebrow, “Oh really, what about you?” I pause pushing myself off the bed, bringing my head closer to his so I can whisper, “I’m surprised you have any voice left at all….” trailing off.

“Kogane,” he pauses looking up towards the sky, “you are gonna be the death of me,” and he shakes his head with the biggest grin I think I’ve ever seen on him, before quickly flipping us over so that suddenly my back is on the bed and Lance is pressed on top of me.

“You know… if this is a competition, I think we should try a few more times, just to make sure that the results are fair…” I tell him, caressing his arms with my hands.

He smiles, “It's only fair….” 

“Mmhmm,” I mumble, as we come together again and again, until I’m not sure where I end and he begins. 

I wake up to knocks at my door followed by Shiro’s voice, “Keith, meet us at Sendak’s cryopod, Coran is going to set up the memory absorber.”

I wait for his footsteps to fade, before quietly groaning.

Lance slowly wakes up, he’s behind me lying on the bed, holding my waist, “What was that?” he asks sleepily, followed by a yawn, resting his head on my shoulder, so that his breathing tickles my ear.

I place my hands on his and tell him, “It's time to see what Sendak knows, we are supposed to go meet up with everyone.”

We get up and put our clothes on, much to my dismay, share a few more small kisses, and Lance leaves the room first. I wait a good five minutes before following after him. To meet everyone by Sendak’s pod. I walk in to see Hunk, Shiro, and Lance waiting. Coran is messing with the pod, placing some strange circular devices on the glass surface, when Pidge walks in.

“Okay, guys,” Coran addresses the group, “Sendak's almost all hooked up. But, look, I have to warn you, this technology was used to keep Altean memories alive, not to interrogate prisoners.”

Shiro replies, “Coran, we understand this isn't what the technology was meant for, but if we can extract Sendak's memories, we may gain valuable intelligence on Zarkon's troop locations.”

And once we get that information we can take the fight to them.

Lance seems to agree when he excitedly exclaims to the group, “Yeah, and then we can just be like,” he pauses motioning with his hands, “‘Knock-knock.’” then he turns around and changes his voice, “‘Who’s there?’” then assumes the same position as earlier raising his arms into the air wildly, “‘The avenging fury of Voltron, son!’” he finishes with a shout.

Yup that’s my man.

Pidge ignores him and approaches the pod, “Fascinating. So, how exactly does this work?”

“As the memories are extracted, they're written bit by bit on individual molecules of the micro-storage strands,” Coran explains.

Lance thinks for a moment then adds, “When I go, I want all the stuff in my brain stored in a giant ship.”

Oh yeah? “The amount of information in your brain could be stored in a paper airplane,” I playfully jeer.

Lance turns to me then fumbles to come up with a witty response, “Oh, yeah? Well, the amount of information you have, Keith, could be…”

I have to hold in a laugh, “.. Yeah?” I offer.

“Uh... it's less than what I have!” Lances finishes.

I’m definitely making fun of him for that later, and by the red flaring on his cheeks, he knows that too.

“Oh, good one, Lance!” Hunk cheers supportively.

Pidge changes the subject, “So this is how you incorporated King Alfor's memories into the Castle of Lions?”

“Precisely, but it's never been attempted before on an unwilling participant,” Coran explains.

Coran presses a few buttons and the tank to the right of Sendak’s pod lights up, but then nothing.

“Uh, is this what's supposed to be happening?” Hunk asks the group.

“Let's give it some time,” Shiro says determinedly.

So we wait.

Ok I can’t just sit around anymore, I need to get out of here. Maybe Lance and I can get some more one on one time… “Well, I can't wait around anymore. I'm gonna hit the training deck ...” I start to walk away but no one moves. Lance included.

So I guess I’m actually gonna go train then.

I make my way down the quiet corridors, until I reach the training deck, the same place where I attempted to guide Lance through the invisible maze. Wow that seems like so long ago, I almost can’t believe it.

I throw my jacket to the side of the room and summon my bayard. I’ve come here a few times already, and I’ve surpassed the first training level, but I need to work on level two. I call out to the castle, “Start training level two.”

A robot gladiator drops from the ceiling and quickly approaches me. The first two times, I have to surrender, but I’m starting to pick up the patterns, and the indecisiveness between moves, those are my chances, I parry a few times, then block one of the robot’s advances, before dislodging his weapon, then spinning around to get my momentum and slicing the gladiator in half. Sending the gladiator back to where it came from.

Not too bad, I tell myself. I’m getting better.

I take a breath before, saying “Start training level three.”

Once again, the gladiator falls out of the ceiling and quickly approaches, I meet its swing with one of my own and our swords clash. We both take a step back to swing again, our blades crash together, then bounce apart. We dance around each other, this gladiator is definitely stronger than the last one. He comes at me again and I keep blocking his blade, but his approach is too fast, I find myself quickly walking backward to avoid his wrath. But I’m running out of room and I’m going to have to change direction, and it's when I pivot to shift my path, that the gladiator sends my flying across the room with the sheer strength of his attack. I roll across the floor trying to find my feet. I stand up, and I decide that I need to come back to this later.

“End training sequence,” I command the room.

But while I’m trying to catch my breath the robot comes at me again, running my direction his sword ready to take me down.

His eye glows red, and I shout, “End training sequence! End training sequence now!”

But to no avail, the robot comes at me with everything he has, and before I can block his shot, my blade is knocked out of my hands and sent flying across the room.

Not good.

He runs at me again, and spins to give me a roundhouse kick in my side. Suddenly I can’t breathe, all the air zapped out of my lungs and I fly across the floor. Landing on my side. I scramble searching for my bayard. I shove myself off the ground and run for my bayard, but the gladiator tries to cut me off. This is it, I crash onto my knees and slide across the floor, barely dodging his sword in a deadly game of limbo. As soon as I am clear of him, I jump back to my feet and grab my bayard off the ground, and bolt out of the room.

Once I’m clear of the doors, I press the hand pad to close them. I lean against the wall, catching my breath. I am about to collapse to the floor in relief when I turn to my left and see the blue glow of the gladiator’s sword sticking out of the doors to the training room.

Shit shit shit shit.

And I run away as fast as I can, with an evil-murderous-robot right behind me.

I run down the halls of the castle, but the robot is too fast, and catches up with me. I have to turn around, to block his slashes, which makes me clumsy as I try to run backwards. Once again the robot bests me and with a swift kick to my chest, he sends me sliding back into a door behind me.

I’m caught off guard by the sound of Lance’s panicked voice screaming behind the doors, “Keith!”

I glance behind me to see Lance’s face behind the glass doors, his hands pressed against the window, “What are you doing in there?” I ask him desperately.

“I need help!” I have to dodge the robots attacked as I listen to him, “because if you don't get me out of here right now, I'm going to be sucked out into space!” Lance screams.

So, I just have to defeat a demented alien robot and save my damsel in distress of a boyfriend from being sucked out into space in a matter of seconds. No big deal, I can do this.

I can do this. 

The robot corners me and I know that this isn’t just my life at stake anymore, but Lance’s, and I can't let anything happen to him. I have to defeat this robot. With this newly found motivation, I decide I’m done playing defense. 

I hear Lance scream, “I'm getting sucked out into space!” 

That’s it, I press into the robot pinning his blade against mine. I glance up to the airlock, if I could just get to that button… and then it hits me. I know what I have to do. 

I force the robot back with every ounce of strength I have left, so that its back is against the airlock doors. Then I lunge for the keypad. 

The doors open and the robot is sucked away into space. 

Air is whipping past my ears, the sound roaring, my blood pounding. My hair is flying everywhere. I brace myself against the door frame then reach out to Lance.

Our hands connect and I pull him towards me. Once I get him past the doors I close them again, and we sink to the floor.

“What were you doing out there?” I asked him. What if I didn’t find you in time?

But instead of answering me Lance demands, “Who was that guy?”

Well first of all he was a robot, and second of all HE WAS TRYING TO KILL ME, no need to get jealous, “He was trying to kill me!” I shout.

“Well, is he the Castle? Because that's who's trying to kill me!” Lance exclaims.

Hold on a minute. I don’t think these malfunctions are random, these are purposeful. Someone, maybe the castle, is trying to kill us. But that means that nowhere is safe. I look at Lance and I see him come to the exact same realization.

We jump up and take off running. We need to find the others.

Lance and I find Coran, and the three of us head to find Pidge and Hunk. We start towards the hangar where we know Pidge has been working on the Galra crystal. When we arrive, the hangar doors open to reveal a crumpled Hunk and Pidge lying on the ground. 

Lance, who is in the lead, yells, “How can you guys be taking a nap while this castle is trying to kill us?”

Hunk looks up confused, “Taking a nap? We've been floating around in Zero G! You know how scary that is?”

Um no.

“That's not scary! That's fun! I was almost ejected into space!” Lance continues.

“I got attacked by killer food, and that's the most horrifying thing you can imagine! The stuff of nightmares! It'll haunt me to my grave!” Hunk rebuts.

You have no idea, “Well, I had a robot trying to kill me!” I scream.

Lance gives me a soft look before turning to Coran and saying, “I don't care what you say, Coran. This castle has gone apples and bananas!”

Coran groans then replies, “Perhaps the infection from Sendak's Galra crystal is worse than we thought.”

“Well, let's get rid of it,” Hunk attempts.

Coran shakes his head, “It's too late. When Sendak plugged it into the ship, it corrupted the entire system.”

Hold on, “Sendak? Wait. Has anyone seen Shiro?” I ask.

But everyone shakes their heads in unison. 

So we all run again towards Shiro and Sendak’s pod.

When we reach Shiro, he looks out of breath and shaken. And when I look towards Sendak’s pod, I realize that it’s empty.

“Shiro, are you okay?” Pidge asks him.

“Where's Sendak?” I add.

But Shiro shake his head, his eyes wild as he says, “I... I had to get him out of here. I was hearing his voice. He... He can't be trusted on this ship.”

But Lance steps up and explains, “It is the ship! I got stuck in a cryo-pod, then, in an airlock,” Lance turns to me, “Keith got attacked by a robot,” then finishes, “and Hunk and Pidge got attacked by food. It's been a weird morning.”

Before our conversation can continue, alarms start blaring all around us.

Coran exclaims, “What? How is that possible?”

I face him and ask, “What is it?”

Coran looks stricken as he says, “The ship is starting a wormhole jump!”

Then all of us rush to the bridge, to see where we are going.

When we reach the bridge, we see Allura standing at her post. 

Shiro is the first to ask, “Allura, what's going on?”

Allura turns to face us and says in a calm and dazed voice, “We're going to Altea. We're going home. My father is taking us.”

Literally there are so many issues with that sentence.

As we approach her, King Alfor’s graying face appears in holograms all over the room and he yells, “Stay away from my daughter!”

Shiro tries again, “Allura, wake up!”

“The crystal must have corrupted King Alfor's artificial intelligence. It's taking over!” Coran shouts.

When we finally reach our destination, I look up to see a flaming ball of fire straight ahead.

Pidge panicked, screams, “We're headed straight for a star and it's about to explode!”

We all yell at Allura, but she’s not hearing us, lost in her own world. Slowly though, I start to see the realization dawn on her face. Her features contort in frustration as she forced out of her station, by her father’s AI.

She stands up and tells us, “I've got to get into the A.I. chamber to disconnect my father's power source manually.”

But Coran does not look happy, “But that means losing King Alfor forever!”

Allura nods, then commands the rest of us, “Paladins, get to your Lions! I need you to slow the Castle's descent into the star.”

We all get to our lions, and push the castle with all our power in an attempt to slow our approach to the exploding star.

I really hope that Allura knows what she’s doing.

Before I can get lost in thought, Lance’s face appears on the screen of my lion. 

“Hey mullet…” I get a shy look on my face and Lance takes notice, “don’t worry” he assures me, “I’m on our private channel.”

Oh good, so I respond, “Yes Lance?”

“I was wondering, if you’re not too busy tonight, fighting off alien robots, flying through asteroid fields, or you know saving the world, would you want to get dinner with me? I mean if we survive the whole exploding star thing…”

“I don’t know…” I crease my forehead in mock seriousness, “I’ll have to check my schedule…”

He starts to smile, “Ok, I’ll pick you up at eight.”

He signs off and I find myself feeling giddy. I wonder what he has planned. 

I can’t wait to find out.


	9. Keith 1.2.9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song: Can't Help Falling in Love by Kina Grannis

Keith 1.2.9

I’m going to be honest, I only have one outfit. I want to dress up nicely for Lance, but what can I do? I suppose I could try and dig up some Altean clothes… but is that any better than what I already have? I don’t know. I suppose there’s no harm in searching around the ship. 

I step out into the hall and start my search. If I were a dashing James Bond suit where would I be…. I turn a corner to my right and almost run into Coran.

He flinches back when he spots me, “Oh Keith! What are you up to this fine evening?”

I freeze, what do I say? Do I try to come up with some sort of cover story? If so what should it be? Or do I just be honest? I mean, Coran would never really question anything.

I lilt my head to the side and raise my eyebrows, “Actually Coran, you might be able to help me.”

His eyes light up, and he claps his hands together excitedly, “OOOH, what are doing? You know I was once a skilled and notorious pirate back in my day…” he twirls his mustache.

I smile, “Well, while that is pretty impressive, I was just wondering if you could point me in the direction of some dressier clothes?”

“Lucky you, I know exactly what you need,” he nods and turns around gesturing for me to follow him, “come along.”

I follow him down dozens of hallways, going up and down countless floors, before stopping at a set of double doors, I reach out to open them, when Coran slaps my hand away, “Now Keith, use the contents of this room thoughtfully,” and he watches me, waiting for a confirmation, so I nod, “alrighty then…. Go on ahead, try not to get too overwhelmed…” he trails off as he starts walking away.

Okay here goes nothing.

I push the doors open, and when I look into the room, my mouth drops open. The room is filled with treasure. The entire space sparkling. Piles and piles of coins, jewels, and artifacts. 

“Woah….” I say to myself.

I step in, slowly trying to take the entire space in. Its a large room, yet it's so filled, the room starts to feel small. I run my hands through a pile of coins to my left. It's just so much, I can barely comprehend it all. 

I shake my head, focus. I have a mission. I search the room, clothes, clothes, clothes….. I finally spot a rack and an armoire in the back right corner and make my way over.

Sifting through the clothing, I struggle to find anything at all that might be suitable. But I’m starting to lose hope. Unless I want to wear a giant neon green ball gown with wings, then my chances of finding anything is pretty dismal.

In a last-ditch effort I walk over to the small dilapidated armoire against the wall, I pry the door open, and a cloud of dust flies off the top. I cough and wave my hand in front of me in an attempt to clear the air. Once the air settles, I look into the closet, and resting inside, in almost pristine condition, is exactly what I’ve been looking for.

I smile to myself, I’m gonna make Lance swoon.

Lance 1.2.9

I check the time on my watch. It's 7:50. I told Keith I’d pick him up at eight. Okay. I got this.

I go over all my plans in my head, and yes everything should be in order. I breathe, trying to release some of the tension in my shoulders.

I’m nervous, like actually nervous, and I don’t get nervous, especially not before a date. 

What is happening to me?

I shake my head, get it together Lance, you can do this.

I’ve been wanting to take Keith out on a real date for a long time now. Ever since we started sneaking around… maybe a long time before that.

I think I might really really really like Keith. I’ve never really done the whole ‘Relationship’ thing before, so this is kind of new for me. I definitely have feelings for Keith Kogane, and I’m terrified that he doesn’t feel the same way.

Deep down I know he really cares for me, I do. But I can’t stop my mind for constantly worrying, worrying that I’m falling too hard and fast, and I’m going to be left hurt and alone and heartbroken.

Ha. ha.

I asked Hunk a few days ago to teach me some recipes, I told him it was because I was bored, but really I wanted to cook for Keith. And as soon as we escaped that exploding star, and defeated Allura’s evil A.I. dad, I ran to the kitchen to start working on the food for our date. I finished up about ten minutes ago and then rushed to my room to get ready. 

I found a tuxedo on one of our first days on the ship, there’s a hidden room on one of the lower decks filled with treasures and all sorts of finery, so I kinda stole this bad boy. And I wouldn’t really call it ‘stealing’ per se, I mean it was my perfect size and it had a blue trim along the edges, and it clearly belongs with the blue paladin, so really I took what was basically already mine.

I straighten the lapels of my jacket. The coat itself is made of a soft dark blue material, with a lighter blue edging along the ends. I look at myself in the mirror and wink, throw some quick finger guns, and smile.

Yup, I still got it. Now I’m gonna go pick up my man.

I walk out of my room and down the halls, I’m not too nervous about being seen, I know everyone else is pretty focused on recovering from the battle we had earlier today and if anyone did happen to see me all dressed up, would they really question it? No.

I get up to Keith’s door. I raise my hand to knock, but before I can, the door opens. 

There he is.

The air in my lungs escapes, as I gaze at him. His hair is still messy, and his eyes are the same gorgeous violet that they always are, but he’s wearing a tuxedo as well, it's the darkest black I’ve ever seen and it looks so smooth. It fits his muscled form perfectly. I let my eyes fall down his body, he’s wearing a blood-red tie, a white button-down, and slick pants that match the black of his jacket. Perfectly conforming to his narrow hips. 

There he is, and he’s perfect.

I whistle, “Damn Mullet, you clean up nice,” and I give him my arm to hold.

Keith 1.2.9

“Damn Mullet, you clean up nice.”

My neck flushes a deep crimson. When I opened the door to see Lance, he took my breath away. I don’t know what I did to deserve him.

He looks so tall and beautiful in his navy blue tux, which makes his eyes pop even more than usual, making them appear a deep blue color. 

He reaches his arm out, and I grip his elbow with my left hand.

I look his way, “you don’t look too bad yourself,” I tease.

“Oh Keith,” he says slowly, “you’re a horrible liar, you know I look amazing.”

I laugh, “you really do,” I say softly.

We stop in the hallway and he gives me a quick kiss against the wall before we keep going.

“So,” I start, “where are we going?”

He shakes his other hand at me, waving his finger scoldingly, “oh no, I’m not telling you anything.”

He takes me to a stairwell at the end of the hall, and we start down the stairs. After two stories, he leads me out to a large empty room, “Is this it?”

He pulls me towards the far side of the room, “Kogane do you listen to anything I say? I told you I’m not telling you anything.”

So I just grin and let him pull me along with him.

When we cross the room, there’s a door that appears ahead of us. It completely blends into the wall, and I never would have noticed it unless Lance had led me straight here. 

He places his hands against the door, which then slides open with a soft whooshing sound.

Lance turns to face me, “Do you trust me?”

I meet his gaze and say, “of course I do,” and with the hand that’s holding his, I start to draw circles with my thumb across the back of his hand.

His face lights up, “Good, now follow me.”

I’d follow you anywhere Lance Mcclain.

I walk into a dark room, and it takes a second for my eyes to adjust, but after I blink a few times it starts to become clear. We arrive in a small room, with no direct lighting, and a two-person table in the center. Candles are thoughtfully placed along the side of the room to the right of me and on the table. But the wall on my left is entirely formed of windows, showing the infinite expanse of the universe, all the stars, planets, and galaxies. 

I find myself walking towards the windows just as a shooting star flies past.

It's magnificent.

Lance set this up for me? My heart almost bursts.

Lance walks up behind me and holds on to my waist. He leans his head forward to rest his chin on my left shoulder, and whispers in my ear, “so Keith, what do you think?”

I turn my head towards his, our mouths almost touching, “Is there a word that means more than perfect?”

He nods and says softly, “yes, there is, and it's you.”

I turn around so that we can face each other better, “Lance, I can’t believe you set this all up for me.”

Lance replies seriously, “Of course I would. Keith, I care about you so much, I would do anything for you.”

I lift my hands to caress his face, “Lance there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”

He reaches up to grab my right hand and pulls it away and towards his lips, so he can kiss each of my fingers, just like I did on that first day.

He remembers. He always does.

I turn towards the table he set for us, and I see that there’s actual food on the plates. 

I start walking to a seat, and exclaim, “Lance…. How?”

He smiles mischievously getting his own seat, “I have my ways… I’m very mysterious you know.”

“Oh, I know” I agree. 

I grab my glass, its filled with some sort of sparkling space drink, “To us” I say gesturing for a toast.

Lance does the same and says, “to you.”

We both take sips of our drinks, and I feel warm as it settles in my stomach. And suddenly it hits me, how happy I am, sitting across from my stunning Cuban boyfriend, eating the delicious food he made for me, in the candlelight, and studying the infinite sea of stars, I don’t think this moment could get any better.

Lance tells me about his family and about Cuba, his twin sister Veronica and about how much he loves the beach. He tried to teach me some words in Spanish, but I just made a mess of it, but he was patient with me.

He asked me about my family, so I told him about being raised by my dad, and how I’ve never met my mother, and I don’t even know who she is or was.

He reaches his hand across the table to grip mine, “I’m so sorry Keith.”

I grip his hand back, “It's not your fault,” I tell him. “And it really all worked out, because while it was painful to lose my dad, and to not have my mom. That pain brought me Shiro. And he’s like a brother to me, I couldn’t imagine life without him.”

He softly smiles, “I’m glad he could be there for you, and that you found each other.”

I smile back, “me too.”

We finish our meals, which were actually surprisingly good when Lance gets up out of his chair and comes over to me. He reaches out his hand towards me and asks, “may I have this dance?”

I look down at his hand and reach out with my own, and as he pulls me up I answer, “of course.”

Lance pulls out a small device and presses a button, which starts some soft music.

Lance tugs me close to him, and I place my head on his shoulder, my right hand holding his left, his right arm holding my waist and my left hand on his arm. Together we sway to the beat of the song. 

I never want this moment to end.

We slow to a stop, and Lance runs his hands through my hair and we share a deep, slow, and passionate kiss, so different from anything else that we’ve shared. This kiss really means something. 

After we finally break apart Lance cups my cheek and says, “Te amo Keith.”

I look up at him, I stare into his eyes, they’re so rimmed with emotion, and I can really tell that he means what he’s saying.

“I love you too Lance Mcclain,” and I always will.

Together we sway, with the light of the stars, and the flickering candles until we grow tired, and eventually make our way back to my room, holding each other like we have all the time in the world.


	10. Keith 1.2.10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Idfc by blackbear

Keith 1.2.10

Ever since my date with Lance, I’ve been pretty happy. I’m in love with him, and he’s in love with me. But it almost seems too perfect, and I can’t help but feel like I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Waiting for him to realize just much better he can do than me. 

Sometimes I find myself thinking about Lance’s first moments with Allura and how much he seemed to like her. I wonder if he still does, and whether or not I’m just a place-holder. I think about bringing my feelings up to Lance, but I don’t want to come across petty and jealous. I’m probably just reading too much into things because of my own insecurities. But still… I wonder.

I shake my head, stop. I can have good things, I can have love. Yes.

I take a few deep breaths and I start to feel better. 

I get up from the bed and walk across my room to grab my jacket, glancing at Lance’s blue slippers that he left in the corner of my room with a smile. I love how all over the place he is and how trusting, leaving little pieces of himself with me. 

My jacket on my back and a smile on my face, I walk out of my room and into the corridor. After the whole A.I. fiasco, we did somehow end up with some of Sendak’s memories. Even though Shiro released Sendak into space, because Allura’s evil A.I. father was slowly driving Shiro insane, etc, etc. Honestly, what has the world come to, now that things like this are making sense to me?

As I ponder my own sanity and the messy chaotic disaster my life has become, getting quite existential, I walk towards the bridge to meet with the rest of the Paladins.

Once everyone is on the Bridge, we all circle around Pidge as she works on her computer. 

“Somewhere inside Sendak's memories, we should be able to find the inside information that gives us the key to take down Zarkon,” Allura comments.

She is pretty, she’s royalty, and she’s confident. No wonder Lance... No stop. Just stop.

I peer over at Lance who is staring intently down at Pidge, his face is so smooth. His rich brown hair is perfectly brushed and styled, it looks so soft. The glow from Pidge’s screen makes his eyes look so blue. I breathe in and out, he’s all that matters. I need to get out of my own head a little and focus on reality.   
The reality where I am in a happy relationship, with a beautiful Cuban boy, who speaks perfect Spanish and has a pretty spectacular sex life. 

“I don't think your father would approve of searching through an enemy's memories,” Coran responds to Allura, bringing me back to the conversation at hand.

“I know, but we have to do everything we can to defeat Zarkon,” Allura says.

To which Lance announces, “Once we learn all his weaknesses, we can drive up to his front door and challenge him to a fight. Winner gets the universe.”

I wish it would be that easy.

“Anything good yet, Pidge?” Shiro asks.

Pidge shrugs, “We were only able to salvage bits and pieces.”

Not good. How are we going to defeat Zarkon with bits and pieces? “We need something to work with. Right now, we don't even have a decent map of the empire,” I add frustratedly.

I cross my arms angrily when Lance tries to cheer me up with a joke, “Who needs a map? After 10,000 years of conquering, I could probably fire my bayard at any random point in space and hit a Galra ship.”

I release a small chuckle, he’s right.

Shiro turns to Pidge suggesting, “If we could just find troop locations or supply routes, small targets we could hit-and-run, then we could start to free planets one by one.”

Which would be good, it would be more beneficial to our cause if we could be really strategic with our attacks rather than just dismantling random bases, and waiting for Zarkon to attack us.

“Boring. I want the big kaboom,” Lance laments, and I look over to see him look off into the distance as if watching his dreams of how easily we might crush the Galran empire in one fell swoop fade away. Poor kid, I’ll have to make it up to him later, and we can have our own kaboom…

“Zarkon's been building his empire for 10,000 years,” Shiro explains, “We're not going to tear it down overnight with five inexperienced pilots and one support ship. Hitting him where he lives would be a huge mistake.”

“Okay,” Pidge starts, “I've cross-referenced Sendak's memories with the info I got from the downed ship back on Arus. Most of it was a garbled mess, but one thing kept repeating, something called a ‘Universal Station.’”

Universal station huh? Sounds pretty important. Maybe there’s a way we could all get what we want.

Hunk thinks for a moment before asking, “Universal Station? Like, the kind of station that controls the entire universe?”

“Well, we are translating it from Galra,” Pidge admits, “so it could also be ‘Galactic Hub.’”

“Or Space Base!” Lance exclaims excitedly. 

I have to use all my self-control in order to not start laughing uncontrollably as everyone in the room turns towards Lance in complete silence.

Hold it together Kogane.

“What?” Lance asks confused.

If someone doesn’t change the subject, I’m going to lose it.

“I'm pulling up the location of your Universal Hub Station Base on our screens now,” Coran segways.

Thank the lord.

Soon Coran is pulling up a three-dimensional holographic map for all of us to look at. But there doesn’t seem to be anything at the coordinates that Pidge has.

Lance seems to be thinking the same thing when he asks, “So, where is it?”

“I don't know,” Coran answers honestly, “Our long-range sensors are unable to find anything at those coordinates.”

I mean memory isn’t perfect, “Maybe he remembered it wrong,” I offer.

“Or maybe we just stumbled across a top-secret base in Sendak's memories,” Pidge declares.

Now that would be a good find.

“Only one way to find out. Let's go take a look,” Allura commands, and we set our ship on a path to intercept the coordinates.

When we arrive Allura tells the group, “We should be close enough to get a good scan, but far enough away to avoid being noticed.”

As we hide behind one of the nearest moons, we can catch a small glimpse of what does appear to be a massive hidden Galra base.

“There it is,” whispers Shiro.

“It appears the gravitation between the two planets warps the electron emission spectrum enough to keep the planet off the deep space scanners,” Coran explains.

So that’s how they did it, pretty clever. This must be an important base then.

Pidge comments, “So, you can only see it if you really know where to look.” 

“This place must handle shipments from all over the Galra Empire,” Shiro says.

“If this is some big airport where shipments come and go, why is it hidden?” Pidge asks.

Good question, the base must be hiding something else, something much more important.

Shiro appears to agree with me when he says, “There must be more to this than we're seeing.”

“Then, we'd better go down to take a look,” Allura adds, “We'll need to enter here: the central control building,” she said pointing at a centrally located building on the base.

Allura wants to come with us? Are you kidding me? “I'm sorry, Princess, did you say ‘we’?”

“I'm going with you. I've traveled through the Galra transportation hubs many times with my father before the war began. I know more about them than any of you,” She says stubbornly.

I just can’t seem to escape her lately.

“Princess, I'd rather you stay here,” Coran says.

Yes, please listen to Coran, please, please, please….. I keep repeating over and over in my mind as if I’ll suddenly develop mind-control powers.

“I'm a part of this fight against Zarkon as much as anyone. I'm going. Does anyone have a problem with that?” She finishes determinedly.

Looks like she's coming along. Great.

“Fine. Suit up,” Shiro relents before explaining the plan, “We'll go in low, fast, and hopefully undetected. Coming around the dark side of the nearest planet should keep them from getting a visual on us. Thanks to Pidge's modifications to the Green Lion, we'll have 30 seconds of cloaking.”

“I can flood their short-range sensors with a radiation burst. That should buy you a minute or so, while they assume it's cosmic interference. But, after that, it's up to you to be out of sight,” Coran adds.

Ok here goes nothing, let's figure out what the Galra are hiding at this topic secret Space Base. 

We make our way to the control center quickly taking out any sentries posted there rapidly and efficiently. Once we have control, I run over towards the large windows to stand watch.

“How's it look out there?” Shiro asks me.

“All clear,” I tell him.

Giving Pidge the go-ahead to start her work on the control panel, and retrieve any information we can.

Hunk helps Pidge get set up and explains, “This shouldn't take too long.”

“We'll have all the information we need in a few minutes,” Pidge continues.

Perfect, the Galra will never know what hit them.

As Pidge and Hunk work, the computers beep and hiss, I hope those are good sounds.

“Hunk and I have made some improvements since the last time I tried to download Galra info. We should get a nice, clean translation immediately. Hunk had a great idea about how to do it,” Pidge says.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, do you guys remember when we studied algorithms at the Garrison, and Mr. York told us that joke about the ghost learning symbolic logic and innumerably infinite sets?” Hunk asks.

But before Hunk can finish his story Lance interrupts, “Boring!”

“Right, yeah, totally, it was boring. Anyway, the joke goes…” Hunk starts.

Their storytelling distracted me, and when I turn to look back over the runway of the base I’m surprised to see a Glara ship landing. Uh oh.

“Hey, guys, sorry to interrupt, but I think we got company,” I tell everyone motioning to the new ship, “Think we should get out of here?”

“We just need a few more seconds….” Pidge says.

“Stay low. We need this intel,” Shiro agrees.

I’m about to argue when I hear the beeping of an initiating hail, “Get down!” I command the group. 

Everyone is scattered and hiding when a Galra commander appears on a screen.

“Huh?” I hear the Galra soldier sigh.

Not good at all.

I can barely hear Lance and Hunk whispering to each other. I hope they are forming a plan, because clearly this soldier is waiting for something that we aren’t giving him, and if we don’t do something soon, we’ll be found out.

Suddenly Hunk shifts one of the unpowered sentinels we took out earlier and moving it in a way that would give the appearance of the machine being perfectly functional. Then Hunk makes the sentinel wave, hopefully giving the soldier the ok that he needs.

Then the soldier signs off. 

I release a breath I didn’t realize that I was holding.

“Okay, download complete,” Pidge says.

I walk over to Pidge to see what some of the data says, “What's it say?”

But as I look through the information, I’m disappointed, “Nothing.” I’m so frustrated, why can’t anything go right for us? Just this once, why can’t something be easy? “This place doesn't have any useful information. Just a schedule of the ships coming in and out.

“Well, I guess this mission was a bust,” Lance says defeated.

“Let's get back to the Castle,” Shiro commands, and we all shift to go.

“Hold on. Pidge, do you know where that ship is headed?” Allura asks pointing at the new ship.

“Um, it's scheduled to be here for about a half an hour, then head off to Central Command,” Pidge answers.

“That's where they have the information we need, and I'm going to sneak aboard that ship and get it for us.”

Um no. How do you even know that they’ll have the information we need, isn’t that what we thought about this mission? And look how that went. And half an hour? That’s hardly any time at all. What is she thinking?

“What? No way!” Lance shouts.

“How are you going to get in?” I add.

“I'm going to walk right through the front,” Allura says casually as she grows two feet taller and her skin turns purple.

What the fuck? Of course, she can change color. Sure why not.

“How the heck did you do that?” Hunk asks her.

“The Alteans are a chameleon-like people who can blend in with the local populations. It's the ability that's made us great explorers and diplomats throughout our history,” Allura responds nonchalantly.

“So, can you turn into, like, a balloon?” Lance asks.

How is that the first question that pops into Lance’s head?

“How many different colors can you be at once?” Pidge demands.

Which is quickly followed by another question from Hunk genuinely concerned, “Aren't you afraid you'll rip your pants?”

Allura thinks for a moment before answering “No, just one at a time, and I will need a change of costume,” she motions towards the downed sentry from earlier, “I can use his uniform as a disguise.”

Shiro steps forward shaking his head, “I can't let you go in there alone.”

Allura goes stiff and stares Shiro down, “Excuse me? I do not need your permission.”

Well excuse me, but do you know how a team works?

“It's too dangerous. I'm going in with you,” Shiro responds calmly.  
“You will stick out like a Shoferiak's nose,” Allura says annoyingly.

Pidge interrupts their squabble to explain to Allura, “You're going to need that nose, Princess. Shiro's hand is made from Galra tech. It's the only thing we have that will allow us to interface with their systems and gather intel. I can monitor the download remotely from here.”

“Fine, you can come,” Allura relents.

Hunk also adds, “Uh, you guys better hurry up if you want to get on and off before the ship leaves for Zarkon central.”

But wait… “How are you going to get Shiro on board?” I ask.

After gathering a large storage container and forcing Shiro inside, Allura leaves us in the command center. 

I maintain my position as lookout while Hunk and Pidge continue downloading the Galra information. I watch the ship in front of us, the Galra soldiers talking to one another, it's so calm. Just looking out you’d have no idea that these aliens are genocidal maniacs. They seem… normal. As I get lost in thought, Lance comes up behind me and taps my shoulder.

“Hey Mullet,” He says quietly.

“Hey,” I find myself responding quietly, without a hint of the happiness that I normally feel when I’m around Lance.

Lance walks around me so that he can face me, he looks down, staring intently, studying my face, “What’s wrong?” His voice is so soft and caring. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.

“No, its nothing…” I start before realizing that maybe I should just tell him everything. My stupid jealousy towards Allura, my terrifying insecurities, everything. But just as I’m about to, I stop, “just having an off day I guess.” And I’m not lying, it is an off day, and there’s really nothing that he can do for me. I know that most of my absurd thoughts are just that, imaginary thoughts. Everything is fine, I need to stop trying to ruin a good thing.

“Are you sure? You know you can tell me anything right?” Lance says so kindly, his eyes so blue, like the feeling you get when you are completely comforted, blue like the waves of joy that he brings me, blue like his gorgeous lion. 

I give him a small nod, “I know.”

I look behind him to see Allura and Shiro appear below, approaching the Galra ship. 

Lance follows my line of sight to see them. We both still our breathing, waiting to see what will happen. If they get figured out then we will all get caught. I see Allura approach one of the guards, she stills. The guard must be talking to her. I feel Lance’s hand reach for mine, so we can comfort each other. I grab his back and move my thumb in circles along the back of his hand. 

Suddenly Allura starts moving again and boards the ship, “They're in,” Lance breathes, releasing my hand quickly, dropping it like a fifty-pound sack of flour. And instantly I realize what Lance was really saying, not ‘They’re’ in, but actually ‘Allura’s’ in. I feel sick to my stomach.

I need to change the subject. I’m grasping at straws, what should I say?

“What do you think they have in all those giant containers?” I ask the group, pointing at the giant canisters that Galra soldiers keep unloading.

Hunk is the first to respond, “Well, I suspect that it's sporks.”

We all turn to face him, I hope he’s joking.

“What? This is an advanced race we're talking about here. Surely, they've learned that it's foolish to have forks and spoons when one tool will efficiently do the job,” he continues. 

He’s serious then. 

Not sure how I feel about that.

Lance pulls me away from the group as Pidge and Hunk attempt to hack into the computer, and turns to me, “Listen, Keith, I don’t know what’s going on, but can you please just tell—”

I finally break, “I can tell that you have feelings for Allura.” I tell him quietly. 

As he’s about to respond to me, I look out to see a Galra get off the new spaceship, he’s taller than the rest and has a long cloak on. He seems like trouble, and I think I need some trouble right about now.

“Whoa. Check out this guy!” I exclaim pointing towards the Galra man. “Whatever's happening here that requires the base to be kept secret must have something to do with that scary dude. I'm going to go check it out.”

I start to walk towards the door determinedly. I need to get out of here and doing some recon is the perfect excuse.

Lance clears his throat then says in a strained voice, “How about we just lay low and you don't blow our cover?”

But I just keep walking.

One foot in front of the other, getting as much distance as I can from Lance, as I hear his voice getting quieter, “Keith, think about what you're doing.”

He tries one last time, shouting “Don't walk through that door!” Just as I walk out the door. 

Let’s go do some hell-raising.

I storm down the halls, following my gut. I finally know that I’ve reached somewhere important when I see rows upon rows of these glowing yellow canisters, filled with some unknown substance. It's a massive room, there are conveyor belts and mechanical devices, systematically going through each container. I just can’t shake the feeling that something really dangerous and deadly is happening here.

I pull out my paladin devices and comm Coran, “Coran, you need to see this,” I say as I send a live feed from my helmet to the castle.

I walk around the secret room, and I listen to the radio to see what Coran is saying. Apparently it's something called Quintessence, “Guys, I'm going to steal some of this quint-whatever.”

I hide behind a wall where I know the canisters will be sent through, and then as soon as a canister comes my way, I flip over the table that is carrying it and grab the canister, crossing the hallway and ending up on the other side. 

But before I can make my escape, the man with the cloak suddenly appears in front of me and blasts me away, and I go skidding across the floor, dropping the canister. In the blink of an eye, he disappears right before quickly reappearing right where the canister ended up. 

How does he teleport like that??

“Okay,” I summon my bayard, “plan B!”

I charge at the man, but once again he fades away before I can get to him. I run at him again, gone, again, gone. 

How can I beat him? 

He disappears again, and I scramble to figure out where he ended up. I peer up at the ceiling just in the knick of time. He creates another blast of energy resembling what looks like purple lightning.

I roll out of the way, but he just keeps coming at me. I’m like a sitting duck down here. But what the cloaked Galra didn’t think about, is that with all these beams comes a lot of smoke. Enough smoke to cover me. 

Hiding in the dark black smoke I seize my opportunity to sneak upon him. I fly up to him with my jetpack as quietly as I can. 

Then just as he turns around to see me I slash at him with everything I have, meeting his energy arcs halfway. Blocking me from any danger, but he’s strong and I don’t know how much longer I can hold him.

Before long his strength overcomes me and he sends me flying into the stacks of quintessence. I crash into a giant canister that's at least twice my size, and I feel an incredibly painful burning sensation on my right hand. It looks like he clipped me with his lightning this time. 

I look back down his way and he’s already summoning another blast, I don’t think I can take much more of this.

“Pidge, I need an extraction now! Hurry!” I yell down the comms. 

I hope they get here in time.

I keep trying to dodge using my jet packs to get some air, but I’m distracted, my hand is burnt horribly, and I don’t think I can keep this up.

I land on a conveyor belt as the cloaked Galra approaches me getting ready to aim another blast my way, I brace for the impact, leveling my sword his way, when suddenly the ceiling starts crashing down sending debris flying everywhere. The commotion causes the Galra’s lightning to miss me but hit a canister of quintessence behind me, sending the yellow liquid everywhere.

The green lion lands behind me, and Pidge’s voice announces, “Get in! We've got to get Shiro and Allura!”

I hop into the open mouth of the green lion, and just as we start to take off I feel a warm sensation on my injured hand when I peer down to check on it, I watch as it heals, all the horrendous burn scars, they all just disappear. Like nothing ever happened.

I walk up the stairs of the lion to reach the cockpit, I can feel Lance looking my way, waiting for me to acknowledge him, but I don’t.

I stare straight ahead.

The worst part is that he didn’t do anything wrong, he’s perfect. I just had to let my petty jealousy get the better of me, and now my pride is getting in the way of fixing things. 

I should just walk over to him right now and apologize, tell him how wrong I was, tell him that I love him, tell him… everything.

But I can’t.

So we all rest in silence as we head over to pick up Shiro and Allura.

Once we spot their pod, Pidge maneuvers the lion over to help them up. But when the cockpit doors open, there’s only Shiro.

“Where's Allura?” I ask him.

“Shiro?” questions Lance.

Shiro shakes his head before saying quietly, “She sacrificed herself to save me.”

“So, she's still on that ship?” Pidge says from the front of the room.

“The ship that's headed to Zarkon's Central Command?” Hunk adds.

“The place that's way too dangerous for us to attack?” I demand.

Shiro looks at each and every one of us as he says levelly and determinedly, “It doesn't matter how dangerous it is. We can't let Zarkon get Allura.”

“But,” Hunk insists, “you said going there would be a huge mistake. You said for us to attack that place head-on would be the dumbest possible thing we could ever do.”

Shiro finishes, “I know, but now we don't have a choice.”


	11. Keith 1.2.11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'll Be Good by Jaymes Young

LANCE 1.2.11

I think I’m in shock.

How could everything go wrong so fast? I can’t wrap my head around it. 

Keith. Purple eyes. Eyes that are currently refusing to look my way.

Keith. Arms crossed. 

Keith. Who has my heart and doesn’t seem to want it anymore.

Keith, Keith, Keith.

Shiro just boarded the green lion, alone, and without Allura. And I feel all this heartache. Like suddenly a black hole has replaced my heart like I’m missing something. I’m numb. Allura is gone, and I can’t help but wonder if I could have done something more if this is somehow my fault. I also want to turn to Keith for comfort, for love, for warmth, but I don’t think he wants me.

Everything is slowing down and I can feel myself nearing the edge. I think I’m about to fall off. I don’t want to know what might happen if I do.

KEITH

Allura is gone and now we have to go save her.

I really needed to put her out of my mind for a few hours, to forget about my petty jealousy, and apologize to Lance. But now she’s all that we are talking about.

The universe paying me back for my pettiness.

I definitely didn’t want anything to happen to her, even though I’m jealous, I do think of her as a teammate and perhaps even a friend. But I’m worried, what if in trying to get her back more of our team gets hurt or killed. What if Lance gets hurt?

I quickly shake my head, no. We can’t think like that.

I glance across the cockpit and peer his way. He’s beautiful as always, but he looks far away. His gaze is in space, but I can tell he’s not really seeing anything. He’s probably worried. I want to comfort him, embrace him, lend him my strength, but after the horrible things, I said… I doubt he wants to be near me right now.

I look back out the window to watch as we approach the Castle. Normally by the time we get back to the Castle, we’ve finished a mission, but not today. We don’t get a break, we are about to take on a mission a thousand times more risky than anything else we’ve ever tried before. 

I’m scared.

LANCE

As soon as we enter the bridge of the Castle, Shiro starts giving us all orders, “Pidge, scan the download from the ship. Find out where Zarkon's central command is.”

Pidge runs to her console, “On it!”

We all continue to walk towards Coran, bracing to tell him the news, and I can’t help but look away as Coran asks, “What happened? Where's Allura?”

I squint my eyes shut, as if not watching this unfold might somehow rewind time.

“They captured her,” Shiro says, his voice breaking off before quietly explaining, “She sacrificed herself to save me and the information. I didn't have a choice.”

I look up just as Coran staggers back as if the news slapped him, “How is that possible?”

Shiro steps forward to close the distance between himself and Coran, “Coran, I'm sorry things didn't go as planned, but we can't focus on what went wrong,” but it feels like he’s just trying to convince himself, “We've got to figure out how to make it right. Pidge, anything?”

Pidge nods as she says, “Guys, look at this.”

Pidge pulls up a map of central command and its massive, “Look at the size of it!” Coran exclaims.

Oh Allura… what are we gonna do?

KEITH

The Galra Empire’s main base is so vast, I don’t know how we can realistically pull this rescue mission off. Is this what Allura would want? She sacrificed herself in the first place to save Shiro, this might completely negate her self sacrifice in the first place. 

Pidge says, “I think we should go in right away. Every minute we waste gives Zarkon time to prepare for us.”

Zarkon is probably already anticipating every move, and definitely knows now that we have the coordinates and plans of the base, this is starting to feel futile to me.

“I agree,” Lance chimes in, “We form Voltron, fly-in, fly-out, dust off our hands, and walk away.” 

I look at him briefly he seems so confident, but it won’t be that easy. Most of us probably won’t walk away. What if you don’t walk away? I can’t let that happen.

“Um, do you guys not remember the Balmera?” Hunk asks the group, “We could barely take out one fleet. But this... a base this size could hold a thousand fleets!”

Exactly Hunk.

We should be more worried about this.

“Or maybe we shouldn't go on this mission at all,” I say, “Think about it. We'll be delivering the universe's only hope to the universe's biggest enemy.”

Hunk turns my way looking shocked, “Keith, that's cold, even for you. What if it was one of us? What if it was me?... You wouldn't leave me, would you? Would you?” his voice cracks as he finishes talking.

Why am I a villain, don’t you see that I’m trying to protect you guys?

“I'm not saying I like the idea. I'm just thinking like a paladin,” I mutter.

“No!” Lance interjects, “you're thinking of yourself because you're too scared to do what's right!” 

Are you kidding me right now? This isn’t about my jealousy, I can feel the implications radiating off of what Lance just said. I’m not saying these things out of my issues and our relationship, why can’t he see that I’m just trying to keep as many people safe as possible, I can’t lose anyone else. Especially him.

I take a step forward ready to rebut when Pidge says, “Okay, we're all upset because we lost Allura.”

It's true we’re stressed, we need to keep our heads as best we can. I breathe in, I breathe out. I can be calm.

But then Coran shouts, “No, Shiro lost Allura!” 

“Okay, okay!” Hunk intercedes, “This isn't helping. We can't just sit here and bicker like this”

But I can feel Lance’s emotions radiating out from him, whatever distant calm he had before is wavering and fast.

Shiro puts his arms out in a peaceful gesture, “Let's focus. How are we going to get Allura?”

But Lance is already turning to leave, “I need some air,” he says to no one in particular as he turns to leave the bridge.

I wait until after he’s left the room to follow him. We need to talk.

LANCE

I’m teetering. This is bad, I can feel the panic inching up on me, like the hole inside me is expanding and I’m being consumed.

I don’t make it too far from the bridge when I lean against a wall and slip to the floor. I place my head in my knees and let the tears start to fall.

It doesn’t take long before I hear quick footsteps coming in my direction.

It must be Keith.

Keith.

I don’t even know what to say, I’m not even sure how I feel.

The steps stop and I know that he’s standing right in front of me. 

I can hear him breathing. Quiet but irregular.

We both stay where we are for a few moments, I have tears streaming down my face but he doesn’t see, I don’t want him to. I just listen to his breathing.

Until he whispers, “Lance…”

But my name on his lips lights the fuse I didn’t realize was waiting to be ignited and suddenly I’m standing.

Keith looks shocked at my sudden movements and I shout, “Keith I love you so much, so damn much and I don’t know why you can’t trust me! I don’t know what else I need to give you, yes I have feelings for Allura, but they’re nothing compared to what I feel for you! Can’t you see that?! Keith, I love YOU! You! I choose you! But I can’t think about this right now because I’m shattering. I’ve never given my heart to someone else before and I’m scared that you don’t want it anymore and I don’t know what to do!”

I take a few rapid breaths before, “Keith, I can’t deal with this right now. We have a mission to complete and a teammate that needs our help. Even if you don’t want to help her, I do. Are you gonna get jealous of that too?”

Keith’s eyes go wide before frowning and replying, “Lance can’t you see why I don’t want to take up this mission?! This is dangerous and I’m scared, I don’t want anyone else to get hurt! Allura is gone, what if we lose Pidge next? Or Hunk? What if I lose you too?! Of course, I want to help her, but I’m just trying to be smart about this!”

All I see is red and I calmly and quietly say, “Whatever you want to tell yourself, Keith. All I see in you is a coward who only wants to save his own skin instead of doing what’s right.”

Keith flinches. I watch closely as I see the anger leave his eyes for something much more heartbreaking, sorrow. He sets his eyes and steps closer so that our faces are almost touching and says, “Well all I see is a clueless idiot pretending to be a hero.” Then he quickly turns away walking back towards the bridge.

I stand tall until he’s out of sight, then I collapse to the ground again, until my blackhole has been replaced by a raging inferno.

I have an empire to destroy and a princess to save. Time to focus on the mission.

Keith

We are all working at our stations trying to find the best way into the Galra’s main base. But I’m not getting much done, I’m still shaking. I really need to fight something, maybe this mission will be a good distraction. I’m ready to go take down some Galra armies.

Shiro is doing the rounds and leans over to Lance, “Anything?”

Lances sighs exasperated, “There's just no way in. They'll have us tracked from every direction.”

“There's gotta be something. Keep looking,” Shiro says determinedly.

Shiro moves to stand by Coran and I overhear him say, “I know you're worried about her. We all are. I'm sorry I let her slip away.” 

Coran turns to Shiro and says softly, “I know it's not your fault. It's just... I've already lost so much. I can't lose Allura, too.” I can’t help but look over to Lance, he’s completely engrossed in his monitor trying to find a way. But I force myself to look away. He thinks I’m a coward, that I’m selfish. To be called that by one of the most important people in my life… I don’t know… I just don’t know how I can move past that. Maybe he’s right…

I go back to eavesdropping on Coran and Shiro, “We'll find a way to get her back. If there was just a way to get close to Zarkon's ship unseen…” 

If only.

Suddenly Coran jumps up and says, “Wait a tick. I think I've got a way.”

Coran pulls up a map of the nearby moons.

Everyone looks up captivated as Shiro announces, “Everyone, eyes front. We've got a plan to get Allura. We're going to jump to the heart of the enemy, unseen and undetected.”

Pidge speaks up first saying, “I thought we needed Allura to open up a wormhole.”

Coran nods but responds, “It's true that Allura powers the Castle's ability to travel through wormholes. However, I think we have enough of her residual essence stored in the system to make one jump. We'll hide the Castle here,” he explains as he gestures towards the map. “Inside one of these giant gas planets in Zarkon's command system. The gas is so dense, we'll be hidden.”

Shiro continues, “From there, we'll use the Castle to scan for Allura on Zarkon's ship and attack before Zarkon knows what hit him.”

“There's only one hiccup,” Coran admits, “We have enough energy to wormhole in, but, without Allura, we won't have enough energy to wormhole out.”

Ok, so this is a one-way trip unless we succeed.

Shiro stands up straight and looks at each and every one of us as he says, “It doesn't matter. We're not leaving without her.”

LANCE

Soon we all head to our lions readying for battle. Once I get into the cockpit I almost flip on the switch to Keith and my private channel to wish him luck. I let my fingers hover for a moment, and I let my mind wander briefly, I wonder if he’s doing the same… But no. I can’t think about him right now. I need to focus on the task at hand.

I place my hands on the controls of my lion and take off from the Castle. Time to form Voltron.

KEITH

After we form Voltron, Coran creates the wormhole and we all go through it, knowing that an epic battle waits on the other side. I take a few slow breaths trying to clear my mind of everything except war and winning.

A pair of persistent Hazel eyes keep popping into my head anyway. But I can’t think about that right now. I need to focus.

But all I see are his eyes as we go through the wormhole.

LANCE

We’ve been fighting with everything we have, but they're just so many of them. I don’t see an end to this battle anytime soon. They just keep coming. These Galra just don’t give up. No matter how many ships we destroy they are constantly getting replaced, no end in sight.

But soon things start going wrong. 

Hunk can’t keep the shoulder cannon, “What's going on?”

Then I hear Keith’s panicked voice, “We lost the sword! Something's malfunctioning!”

“What's happening?” Coran asks over the comms.

I try to move my lion, but it doesn’t budge, “Somebody do something! Voltron's frozen up!”

Keith yells desperately, “Shiro! I can't hold it!”

All of a sudden, we are flying apart from each other. Voltron is broken.

“What just happened there? Something tore us apart!” Hunk shouts.

“I don't know, but we've got bigger problems right now,” I reply, “Look!” 

Directly ahead of us a swarm of Galra fighters are heading straight for us.

“Why do I get the feeling these guys knew we were coming?” Keith asks sadly.

I feel panicked as I realize that maybe Keith had a point earlier, what if we don’t all make it out? How could I be so naïve? We flew right into a trap.

KEITH

I take in my surroundings, making quick work of a few Glara fighters until I notice that Shiro and the Black Lion are being taken away.

“Shiro, are you okay?” I shout down the comms.

“Something is overriding the controls! My Lion is not responding!” Shiro yells.

I can hear him struggling, his breathing ragged. I need to do something.

“Shiro's in trouble!” I tell the other Paladins, “I'm going in!”

And I fly towards Shiro.

LANCE

I start to get lost in the fray of battle. There’s so much happening, explosions everywhere, all of us are separated and I’m starting to lose hope.

“What do we do now, guys? Our plan isn't really working out as... Well, planned!” Hunk screams.

Keith responds, “I'm going for the Black Lion. You guys get the Princess, now!”

Oh, Keith, I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. 

Coran continues supplying, “I've identified Allura's exact location. Uploading the coordinates to you, now. In the meantime, I'll provide covering fire from out here, all alone, against an entire fleet. So, yeah, do you mind hurrying?”

Okay, we just have to get Allura then we can go.

But then Keith says, “You guys get the Princess without me.”

And my heart stops.

“What? We've got to stick together! What are you doing?” I demand.

“Whatever I can,” he replies. He says it so calmly, so sure, but I can’t lose him. I can’t let our fight be the last thing we say to each other.

But before I can try to convince him to stay with the rest of us I hear his voice again, “Whoa! Who is that?” I can’t see him though, I don’t know where he is.

Coran responds quickly and he sounds afraid, “It's Zarkon! Keith, get out of there, now! Zarkon's too powerful!”

Oh no. no no-no-no. 

“This is my chance to put an end to the Galra Empire! I have to take it!”

No Keith can’t you just be a coward just– 

I can hear my own voice echoing inside my head, ‘All I see in you is a coward who only wants to save his own skin instead of doing what’s right.’

How could I say that? Keith is the bravest person I know. He doesn’t need to prove anything. This is all my fault.

“Keith, don't!” Coran begs before I hear the tell-tale-clicking of someone shutting off their comms.

“Keith!” I shout, but there’s no response. He’s gone.

KEITH

I see Zarkon. He looks so small as he stands on the outside of his ship, so insignificant, so easy to destroy.

Time to wreak some havoc.

I dive in with my lion and shoot at Zarkon with everything I have. There’s an explosion where my blast hits Zarkon and the ship. There’s no way he made it through that.

But when I look back he’s still standing and he sends some powerful blasts my way. When they reach my lion, I shake, it's so powerful. The graphics on my screen waver. I don’t know how he could possibly do that.

I straighten out my lion with a renewed determination, ok let's do this.

I shoot my beam at him again, but when the surface explodes and billows with smoke, I quickly move to try and trap him where he stands but he quickly jumps out of the way.

How is he doing this?

I continue to charge at him, but he keeps dodging my attacks with astonishing speed. 

Soon he’s on me and he throws my lion and me across the surface of his ship. Red and I crash.

Alarms are blaring and I’m starting to get annoyed, how is he doing this? I’m in a completely armored space robot and he’s just himself.

Soon He aims a giant ass blaster my way and I barely manage to avoid getting shot, but as I dodge Zarkon ends up hitting his own ship, destroying a section of the outer rings. This guy’s crazy.

How am I on defense?

I decide to fly at Zarkon again, but with my jaw blade instead of my laser, but Zarkon summons a new weapon. It looks like a serrated whip, he lashes it my way, and I try to dodge as much as I can but he catches me and whips me into the ship.

I crash once again, resting in a crater of my own making.

I blink trying to orient myself. My lion is sideways, my screen is glitching even more, alarms are blaring, and when I look up I see emperor Zarkon charging right at me with his sword raised.

LANCE

After we rescue the Princess and get Shiro back to his lion, he says, “I’m gonna go get Keith, you guys head back to the ship and get ready to wormhole out of here.”

So Shiro goes to help Keith and I head back to the Castle. Hunk drops Allura off at the Castle and heads back out to see us. We remain on guard until we see Shiro coming back with Keith in tow.

I feel relieved to see Keith’s familiar lion again, but I feel my heart fill with dread when I see that Shiro is carrying Keith back.

Why can’t Keith fly his own lion? What happened out there?

I can’t think about anything except Keith.

His strong arms, his lack of social skills, his sincerity, and his love.

Solemnly, I turn to Hunk and Pidge and we fly back to our hangers.

But Allura and Coran are having trouble setting up a wormhole.

Come on come on come on……

Suddenly the shields that surround the Galra base flicker and disappear.

Time to get out of here.

Soon we enter the wormhole, but something doesn’t feel right.

I hear Shiro’s voice, “Coran, what's happening?”

“The integrity of the wormhole has been compromised,” Coran replies, “It's breaking down!”

That doesn’t sound good, “What does that mean?” I ask.

“It means we have no control over where we're headed!” Coran answers.

Uh oh.

KEITH

“It means we have no control over where we're headed!” Coran shouts.

Before I can do anything, Shiro and I get sucked out of our hangar. We are flying out of the wormhole, no-no-no…

I have no control over my lion still. 

What can I do, before I fall out of the wormhole, I look up to see Lance’s lion on the other side. And everything slows down. 

I replay our fight in my mind.

‘Well all I see is a clueless idiot pretending to be a hero,’ I was so cruel.

Lance, I love you so much. I didn’t mean any of it.

But I can’t do anything but watch as Lance and his lion fall out of the wormhole landing god-knows-where. I’m so sorry Lance. 

I will find you again. Those will not be my last words to you. I love you.

LANCE

Hunk and I are flying away, we are completely out of control. I don’t know what to do, who knows where we might end up.

I scramble trying to find a way to fix this but I can’t find a solution. My lion isn’t responding. I slam my hands on the controls with a guttural yell. 

I look up and I see him. Keith.

His red lion spiraling directly across from me. Keith, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean any of it.

I will find you again. Those will not be my last words to you. Te amo. 

And in a blink, he’s gone.

–KEITH AND LANCE WILL RETURN–


End file.
